Jordan Spieth seemed to have found something on the first day of the Travelers Championship, but by the second day, whatever was clicking was out of sync again. Tied for the lead heading into Friday, Spieth got off to a mundane start, parring his first three holes without a good look at birdie and then disaster struck on the par-5 13th hole, his fourth of the day.
OB off the tee and then in the water.
Jordan Spieth makes triple on No. 13. pic.twitter.com/Hb1Z4SIrIj
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 22, 2018
A triple-bogey 8 dropped Spieth from 7-under par to 4-under par for the event.
“For whatever reason, it’s a large fairway but it’s always just killed me,” Spieth said of the drive on No. 13. “I don’t know what it is about the hole, but that hole I get on the tee and for whatever reason I struggle. I just hit a bad shot at the wrong time there.”
He hit another bad shot at the wrong time a few holes later when he dropped another shot on the drivable par-4 15th, once again finding the water.
Jordan Spieth finds the water for the second time today.
He drops to -3. pic.twitter.com/wtYOWtRon3
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 22, 2018
Despite firing a 3-over par round of 73 and dropping six shots back of the halfway lead, Spieth found some positives from his round.
“I actually felt like I had better control of my golf swing than I did yesterday,” he said. “I really struggled with my swing yesterday and I kind of got some good breaks. It’s just golf. It’s kind of like yesterday I got three or four shots extra out of the round, and today I lost three or four based on how I felt.
“So it’s not like things are on. Sometimes it can get disguised by rounds, but it’s not far off. It really is close.”
Spieth comfortably made it into the weekend as he attempts to make a run and defend his 2017 title. He will have to chase down Brian Harman who holds the 36-hole lead and pass some heady players such as Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Justin Thomas who are all between Spieth and the lead.
