Australian Open golf: Jordan Spieth looking for a launchpad

Jordan Spieth wandered the fairways of Royal Sydney on his lonesome yesterday.

Jordan Spieth puts in some bunker practice at Royal Sydney yesterday. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Jordan Spieth wandered the fairways of Royal Sydney on his lonesome yesterday.

The former world No 1 spent the morning searching for answers in his quest to win another Stonehaven Cup, although you get the sense he was also scouring the lush fairways and pristine greens for some positive vibes after a lean year by his lofty standards.

Spieth arrives in Sydney with his ranking at its lowest point in nearly two years, having not won a tournament since the end of May. Jason Day has left him for dead. So too Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.

Spieth, 23, needs a spark and he hopes to find it in Australia, just as he did two years ago when his Open win at The Australian Golf Club was the catalyst for the best year of his stellar career so far.

“The end of this year I didn’t go to China and Japan like we have in the past,” Spieth said.

“But I love it here in Oz. With Australia and Tiger’s events, that was really a key stretch for us a couple of years ago that led into the ’15 season. That’s what we’re going to try to duplicate.

“It’s beautiful, it’s amazing. I love the golf, I love the passion for the golf. I love the terrain. We like hanging out in Sydney. The people are fantastic — they remind me of the people of Texas.

“I just love the whole place.”

Spieth’s win at the 2014 Australian Open precipitated a year in which he won five times, including twice at the majors. He finished 2015 as the world No 1 but arrives in Sydney having dropped to No 5 after slipping behind British Open champion Henrik Stenson — as well as the aforementioned trio — in the past fortnight.

Of his two wins in 2016, his last came in his home state of Texas at the end of May. He arrived in Sydney having taken some time off from golf. He hasn’t played a strokeplay event since the Tour Championship in late September.

Nevertheless, he will start the Open as slight favourite ahead of world No7 Adam Scott.

A win would cement his place in the top five but a loss at the hands of Scott would intensify pressure on the American to retain his place above the Australian.

“I got a lot of rest,” he said. “The body feels really good. I started (getting) back into it a couple of weeks ago. I feel like we have been able to start to accomplish things we have been trying to work on this whole year, but haven’t had the time to do so.

“It’s been nice the last few weeks to be able to feel like I am making progress through my backswing and seeing results when I do it correctly.

“It just feels like I was working on the same thing the whole year but didn’t get it to where it was natural. So trying to train the brain to where it feels natural was the idea this off-season — take a rest to start, get away from it a bit and work it back.

“That’s what we have done.”

Spieth’s knowledge of Royal Sydney is limited, although he spent a large chunk of yesterday acclimatising to the layout.

It differs significantly from The Australian, where Spieth has enjoyed two successful years, his win in 2014 and a share of second last year behind Australian Matt Jones.

“I have heard it is tree-lined and very different from The Australian,” Spieth said.

“We putted and hit balls yesterday and the greens are absolutely pure. It will be trickier to judge these winds with these trees around versus The Australian which is more open. So it looks like we’re going to get great weather, a little bit of everything. We’ll see what the golf course gives us.”

Most people expect the Open to develop into a shootout between Spieth and Scott — they are the only players in single figures with the bookies — but last year provides a cautionary tale.

Jones hasn’t returned to ­defend the Stonehaven Cup as he focuses on retaining his playing rights in the US but his victory 12 months ago is fresh in the mind.

“You never know,” Spieth said.

“There’s a lot of incredible talent, people who have played this course quite a bit. I think course knowledge is going to play a part. So hopefully we can gather as much as we can in two, three days.’’