Confident Jordan Spieth sends early Open warning shot

SANDWICH, England – Jordan Spieth says “living in the external” is where he belongs, and it was the key to an impressive start at The 149th Open. The former FedExCup champion continued his return to form this season, putting everyone on notice at Royal St. George’s with a very tidy 5-under 65 during the early wave. The 2017 Open champion sat just one off the pace set by 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen as he relied on feel and instinct, much like he did in his giant-killing years of 2015-2017 that yielded 10 victories. His mastery of the blustery winds on the seaside links course helped provide six birdies over his last 14 holes including a run of four straight on the front nine but perhaps more impressive than the birdie barrage was the mentality the 12-time PGA TOUR winner showcased post round. “There’s a lot of external factors over here, and I think that external is where I need to be living. You get less swing-focused and more shot-focused over here because the second you take your brain off of what you’re hitting, you may not find your ball,” the Texan explained. Since February’s Waste Management Phoenix Open where he tied for fourth Spieth has notched up eight top 10s from just 13 starts including his drought breaking win at the Valero Texas Open, a runner up finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge and third place efforts at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am and the Masters. From 2018 until Phoenix this year, Spieth went winless and had just 12 top 10s in 70 TOUR starts. He spent most of that time preaching patience as he worked through swing issues but now he’s talking up his chances. “To be honest, the path that I’m on and where I’ve been before in the game, I feel really good about my chances going forward, (being) as good as they have been historically,” he said as a warning shot to the field. “I feel like I’ve been trending the right way and certainly had a chance this year already at Augusta. Made some mistakes in the first round and second round that I shouldn’t have made that I very well could have won that golf tournament this year. I like where I’m at. “By no means do I feel like I’m where I want to be mechanically yet, but this year has been a really, really good progression for me, and that’s all I’m trying to do is just get a little bit better each day.”

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