This is why Jordan Spieth is not successful, based on Smylie Kaufman

Jordan Spieth just isn’t having the 2024 season he would have favored, however one in all his good buddies thinks he is aware of why.

Earlier than Spieth caught hearth Saturday at TPC Deere Run, making eight birdies in his first 12 holes and finishing with a 63 to vault into competition on the John Deere Traditional, he hadn’t shot that low on the PGA Tour in practically a 12 months.

After recording three top-10s earlier within the 12 months, he hasn’t completed higher than T29 since he missed the reduce on the Masters in April. He’s fallen out of the highest 30 within the Official World Golf Rating and at the moment is outdoors the all-important prime 50 of the FedEx Cup standings, which might make him exempt for all of subsequent 12 months’s Signature Occasions.

It’s actually the second-straight season of poor kind from the three-time main champ after he’s did not win for the reason that 2022 RBC Heritage and vanished throughout the Ryder Cup. That is after two resurgent seasons in 2021 and 2022 after ending a four-year winless drought.

On this week’s episode of GOLF Subpar, Spieth’s good good friend and NBC broadcaster Smylie Kaufman dished on Spieth’s run of poor kind to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz.

“It’s humorous, proper? As a result of for those who go and take a look at the stats, you get confused as a result of for those who would have supplanted his driving means this 12 months, in every other 12 months, he’s successful,” Kaufman stated.

He defined that Spieth is having considerably of an reverse statistical 12 months to what his profession has been. He’s usually pushed the ball all over whereas leaning on his creativity along with his irons and wedges to attain. This 12 months, Spieth is sixteenth in strokes gained: off-the-tee, however one hundred and tenth in SG: Method and eightieth in placing.

“He’s all the time been in a position to lean on his wedge recreation, his brief recreation and his iron recreation,” Kaufman stated. “His placing was good to begin the 12 months, however his placing recently has actually tailed off and now he’s bought an iron and wedge recreation that’s simply mediocre from his requirements.

“I maintain desirous to consider that one week it’s all simply going to come back collectively. However when you have got so many issues which might be simply barely off, it’s it looks as if he pushes a little bit bit an excessive amount of on some days to attempt to make one thing occur, as a substitute of simply letting the event come to him and letting his recreation come to him.”

Knost recalled when Spieth was successful majors he was extra of an artist along with his shotmaking and Kaufman agreed that Spieth wanted to get again to extra of that.

Then Kaufman defined the potential that Spieth’s deal with bettering his driving has not directly harmed his method recreation.

“Perhaps there’s a correlation too, while you make swing adjustments, you begin hitting it additional, generally there’s a driver swing the fellows have and there’s generally there’s an iron swing the fellows have,” he stated. “And I believe he’s form of caught a little bit bit in between.”

For extra from Kaufman, try the complete Subpar episode beneath.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State College, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf crew and not too long ago returned to this system to function head coach. Jack additionally nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Earlier than becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but in addition producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He might be reached at [email protected].