‘The Spieth Lower 40’ set to open this fall at UT Golf Club

Jordan Spieth will make his first start of 2019, and first start as a married man, at the Sony Open in Hawaii this week.  The 2015 FedExCup winner and former world No. 1, who is trying to rebound from his worst season as a pro, wed longtime girlfriend Annie Verret last November and admitted Wednesday he expects to see some rust in his game at Waialae Country Club this week.  “This tournament was up in in the air, given I wasn’t in Maui this year,â€� said Spieth, who finished 31st in the FedExCup last season and missed the TOUR Championship for the first time in his six-year career. “I decided that I really wanted to come down here. I like the golf course a lot, the hospitality is fantastic, and the weather is perfect. “Really could come down and try out the very little work I was able to put in, but at least knock some rust off and gather some information about where I am at and hopefully make some adjustments going forward into the season.â€� Spieth slipped to 123rd in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2018, from 39th the year before and 2nd in 2016. He also struggled with his swing and said he wasted time working on the wrong thing. The result: His five top-10s in 23 starts were the fewest of his career. “I was certainly frustrated with last season results-wise compared to previous seasons,â€� he said. “It was also something I kind of embraced as an inevitable at some point in the career. “I almost took ignorance as bliss in a lot of parts of my game,â€� he added, alluding to the torrid start of his career, when he won 11 times, including three majors, all before turning 25. “I did things well, but I didn’t know why. I just did them. Then they got off, and so I had to figure out why I did them well and how to train it back.â€� Spieth said he’s now working on the right thing, but finding the time to get it grooved has been another matter. The off-season saw him spend less time on his game than on his wedding in Dallas and honeymoon in the Caribbean. As a result, he said, he’s not sure what to expect at the Sony. He was 3rd in 2017 and T18 a year ago, but returns to Waialae after “limited work.â€� “I think that was good for me,â€� he said. “I needed some time away from the game after being off and having to play through it at the end the season, and then in the fall kind of the same thing.â€� In a departure from his usual scheduling, Spieth finished T55 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, and missed the cut at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in the fall. He comes into this week at 191st in the FedExCup and 17th in the Official World Golf Ranking. “I’m a little bit behind,â€� he said, “which I can play catch up, I think, pretty easily.â€� One adjustment: What to do about that new wedding ring when gripping the club? “I’m fine with playing with it,â€� Spieth said. “It’s just my putting; when I’m cross-handed kind of jams into my grip.â€�  As a result, he said, he probably will take it off when he’s inside the ropes. “Unfortunately,â€� he said, “that means I’ll probably lose some rings, but I don’t think — as of now I don’t think I’m going to start playing with it on. Just it was putting that was the reason. Kind of odd.â€�

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WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – Joseph Bramlett saw 15 different spine surgeons. The first 14 told him that an operation to fix the annular tear to his L5-L6 disc would likely end his budding golf career. The 15th was willing to do exploratory surgery but Bramlett’s girlfriend Samantha Boozer put her foot down and said no. “She’s helped me out of some desperate moments,â€� Bramlett said with a smile. Those moments appear to be behind the 6-foot-4 Californian, though. After being sidelined for the better part of four-and-a-half years, Bramlett finally rehabilitated his back and rebuilt his swing, and now, after two seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, he has his PGA TOUR card again. RELATED: Tee times | Chappell’s ‘surreal’ return after back surgery Bramlett will tee off Sunday at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier with a chance to win, too, after a third-round 65 that tied for the day’s low, propelling him to 11 under and four strokes off the lead held by Joaquin Niemann. He called it a “solidâ€� day. “I wouldn’t say I did anything out of the ordinary,â€� said Bramlett, who made four birdies and a 50-footer for eagle at the 12th hole while dropping just one shot to par. “… Kept the mistakes to a minimum.â€� The personable Bramlett played at Stanford, graduating in 2010 with a degree in communications, and promptly made it through Q-school to get his TOUR card for the following season. After finishing 196th in the FedExCup, though, he found himself on what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012. Bramlett narrowly missed regaining his TOUR card that year, falling from 24th to 28th on the money list, three below the cutoff, in the final event of the year. Then midway through the 2013 season, his back flared up while he was preparing a Korn Ferry Tour event in Utah. That was in July. Bramlett didn’t play again until January of 2016 and lasted just three events. He missed all of 2017 before being able to return full-time in February of 2018. “I just trying to warm up on the driving range and my back went out and fell over and couldn’t move for a while,â€� Bramlett said matter-of-factly. Annular tears like the 31-year-old had usually take about 18 months to heal. But Bramlett’s recovery was complicated by poor posture, tight hips and several flaws in his swing, so every time he started to practice, he’d soon find himself flat on his back again. “I used to have really poor footwork,â€� Bramlett explained. “I was the guy that jumped off the ground and was on his toes at impact, and my hips were rotated way too fast and I was in a lot of side bend. I was just cranking the low right side of my back.â€� About three years into the process, Bramlett found John Scott Rattan, a teaching pro at Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C., and physical therapist Cody Fowler, and things began to change. Together he and Rattan rebuilt his swing from the ground up. “It was just a ticking time bomb,â€� Bramlett said. “I didn’t realize that I was putting myself at risk like I was at the time.â€� The rehab, which was “tedious,â€� he said, worked in concert with the swing changes. Bramlett did foot exercises and worked on his hip mobility, trying to become more fluid. He’d work for 15 minutes, rest for 45 and start again. Over and over. “When I first started I had almost zero internal rotation on both my hips,â€� he said. “It wasn’t a structural issue. I just didn’t know how to use them, go through the motion. … My nervous system had kind of shut me down and I was rigid and locked. So, yeah, just had to break that stuff down.â€� Bramlett said he could understand what Kevin Chappell, who shot a 59 on Friday at the Old White TPC, has gone through. The Greenbrier is Chappell’s first event since having back surgery in November and while Bramlett’s layoff was much longer, the emotions and effort both had to endure are similar. “I feel bad for him because no matter what amount of time it takes it feels like a lifetime,â€� Bramlett said. “I think it was great to see what he did. I thought it spoke to his confidence to be able to come out having not competed and get in that position and just believe in yourself the whole way through. “That was something I fought last year. I started getting really nervous towards the end of tournaments because I hadn’t been in that position for a long time. I had to really work through that.â€� Bramlett says he tells his friends that he doesn’t cry happy tears. At the same time, though, he admits to getting misty-eyed when he finally teed up in his first Korn Ferry Tour event after all the rehab was done. He got a little emotional when he hit the road on Sunday and headed to The Greenbrier, too. “It’s been my dream since kindergarten to play out here,â€� Bramlett said. “I’ve had a one-track mind. This is what I’ve always wanted to do. From when I first started playing golf I fell in love with the game and PGA TOUR. That was my dream my whole life.”

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MELBOURNE, Australia – Notes and observations from the fourth round of the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf where Belgium won their first World Cup title by three shots. LEADING LIGHTS Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry admitted they could feel the groundswell of support for the host nation Australia as it got to gut-check time in the World Cup. Starting the day with a significant five-shot lead, Team Belgium knew it would take something special to beat the Aussies at Metropolitan Golf Club. As the locals swarmed around Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith and became more and more vocal in the group ahead, the pair knew a challenge was being issued. But with nerves of steel, the 26-year-old Pieters and 25-year-old Detry met every test and then capped off the win with a final-hole birdie to win by three shots. The final round, 4-under 68 was more than enough to stay ahead of Australia (65) and Mexico (66) – leaving them at 23 under for the week. “You can hear the “oi oi oi” chants going, so you know somebody made a birdie,â€� Pieters said. “We felt the guys coming right behind us and we answered it with a birdie, so I think we handled the situation very well.â€� It is the first win for Belgium in the World Cup. Belgium hadn’t had a result better than fourth since 1955. “Being able to put our name down the list when you see the amount of good players and all the big names that were actually on the Cup, it feels pretty special,â€� Detry said. Pieters burst onto the European Tour scene a few years ago, winning three times in a 12-month span in 2015-16. But he hasn’t been able to maintain the same form since, making this victory extra special. “It feels very good. It’s been a long time since I won and this feels as good as an individual title. I’m very, very happy,â€� Pieters said. “We’ll take a lot of confidence out of this. It’s a shame the season’s over for me now.â€� Detry is yet to win on the European Tour but he’s been knocking on the door with a handful of recent close calls. Pieters now thinks this will change. “His drive down the 18th … that’s a drive of somebody that’s going to win next year, for sure,â€� Pieters said of his partner. “To hit a drive like that, I can tell how much adrenaline was going through his body by how far it went. He’s going to take this forward for sure.â€� NOTABLES AUSTRALIA: Host nation Australia had the local crowds rocking down the back nine at Metropolitan after Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith caught fire and threatened to steal the Cup. But a short putt from 4 feet for birdie on the par-4 16th was pushed wide by Leishman, stalling the huge charge the locals had made. Starting the final round a distant six shots back of Belgium, the Aussies made the turn after four birdies thinking they could certainly make the leaders sweat with a few more. Smith buried birdie putts on the 12th and 13th holes and then, just as hopes looked dashed after Leishman left a bunker shot in the sand, he holed out for another birdie. But it was the last birdie they’d bank. The short miss on 16 sucked the life out of the charge and they would ultimately sign for a 7-under 65 to finish at 20 under. “Obviously that putt on 16 I would like to have made,â€� Leishman said. “I would love to have that again. “But Belgium was clearly the best team all week. When you come up against someone like that, we did what we had to do today to put the pressure on and they were just too good. When you get beat by someone who’s playing that well, there’s not much you can do.â€� MEXICO: It was an impressive couple of weeks in Australia for Abraham Ancer, who won the Australian Open before combining with Roberto Diaz to finish in a tie for second at the World Cup. A final round 6-under 66 on Sunday was highlighted by late birdies on 14, 16 and 17 giving them an outside shot at victory if they could make something happen on the last hole. But Belgium stayed rock solid. The runner-up result represented Mexico’s highest finish in the tournament, besting the seventh-place effort in 1953 from Al Escalante and Juan Neri. USA: Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley never really threatened to bring the USA a 25th World Cup title, shooting 66-79-66-68 to finish at 9 under and a tie for 16th. SHOT OF THE DAY QUOTABLES I haven’t heard a roar like that for a very long time. It was awesome. There’s nothing like representing your country on the other side of the world, it’s just amazing. It’s kind of a funny week, the weather was different, total different all the time. A little disadvantage having different balls … that’s why I struggled with the short game a little bit this week.  

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