Australian Open golf: Spieth back to reclaim the winning feeling

Jordan Spieth wants that feeling again.

Jordan Spieth hits his driver off the 10th tee during a practice round at Royal Sydney. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

Jordan Spieth wants that feeling again, the one that he experienced for the first time when he shot a final-round 63 to win the 2014 Australian Open, the one that propelled him to what fellow major winner Geoff Ogilvy describes as one of the top couple of years that any golfer has ever had.

The 23-year-old Texan doesn’t need to be here. There are more ­lucrative prizes available this week in other parts of the golf world and he’s not defending the title after a second-place tie with Adam Scott last year.

But the $100 million man has come to Australia to get what money can’t buy.

He recollects his final round at The Australian in 2014 as “one of the best rounds I’ve ever played’’.

But more importantly it taught him how to play the final round when he was in contention to win.

“I remember playing No 1 and hitting two pretty good shots and then I two-putted for par and I heard a roar from Adam making birdie on the hole in front and I just remember that not bothering me as much as it had bothered me when I was in contention and the contenders were making birdies, feeling that extra pressure,’’ Spieth said yesterday.

“I just didn’t feel it that day and I just said: ‘Let this course come to you. You don’t have to make a bunch of birdies on a day like today’, and I certainly ended up making a bunch of them because I went back and hit the right shots in the right places and made a few putts.

“It was a really great feeling. I remember having the trophy (the century-old Stonehaven Cup) on the stage after the round. What an incredible trophy it is, I see it every day when I walk into my house.

“It was a tremendous honour and with a 63 being even more significant because of the cricketer (Phillip Hughes) who was on 63 (when he died that week).

“As a springboard, I went and played, I think, the best golf I’ve ever played for a four-day stretch the next week at Tiger’s event in Orlando.

“It was because of that final round. It did a lot for me. I learned how to really close out a tournament and then in 2015 I did that a few times.’’

Two of those were at the Masters and the US Open, which were among the five victories that propelled him to No 1 in the world last year.

He’s now dropped to fifth in the world after a year in which he won twice (plus the Ryder Cup).

Most other players would take that record in a heartbeat and ­Spieth himself regards it as a solid year but he is intent on getting back into the rarefied air of last year.

To that end he took a full six-week break after the Ryder Cup, replicating what he did in 2014 before he came to the Australian Open. The next part of the formula is to find that same final-round feeling.

Spieth said he felt “renewed’’ by his break and had put his year in perspective.

“It was just the second half of the year that I would say I maybe tried just a bit too hard, didn’t let it come to me, was getting a little frustrated with the lack of first- place finishes I guess, even though, if you win five times a year for the amount of time I expect to be on Tour, I’ll have more (wins) than Tiger, so it’s unrealistic.’’

What’s not unrealistic is winning this week. He comes in as the top-ranked player in the field and former winner Craig Parry has already said Royal Sydney’s tight fairways and small undulating greens particularly suit Spieth’s well-rounded game.

Ogilvy observed that one of Spieth’s talents was that he almost always got the best out of his round in any conditions.

“He more than anyone seems to always sign for one or two less than you think maybe he should have and that’s always a sign of the great players,’’ he added.