AUSTIN, Texas — Jordan Spieth survived.
That’s about as good as he could have hoped for Wednesday, given his uncharacteristically erratic wedge play, a more than worthy first-round opponent and some Titanic-level rust the former Texas Longhorn had to scrape away.
But survival is good in this WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play format.
And Austin’s favorite son gladly took a 2-up victory over former PGA Champ Keegan Bradley on the first day of the tournament at Austin Country Club despite missing a bunch of fairways, coming up short on a number of putts and not taking the lead in the match until the 16th hole. Spieth needed it, since he dropped a 3-and-2 decision to Justin Rose on Thursday.
But at least he was in the 64-player bracket.
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Dylan Frittelli, a one-time Spieth teammate on Texas’ 2012 national championship team, was resigned to commenting on his pal’s play as an on-course broadcaster for PGA Tour Live. He followed Spieth all day, and Spieth afterward told his buddy, “I probably would have lost to you today on this golf course as I have many times.”
So why isn’t Frittelli in the field?
“I’m about 50 spots away from qualifying,” he joked, knowing his No. 116 world ranking left him far short of the top 64. “This is the first time I’ve done this, but I’ve done commentary in the booth in South Africa.
“How’d I get the job? I offered. I was actually hoping somebody might withdraw and they needed someone fast, but I think they had three or four on standby.”
Spieth was playing with his A-game on standby most of a crisp, breezy Wednesday with the gusting wind out of the north. He pulled out his best late when he needed it the most, holing crucial putts of six-to-eight-plus feet on Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to gain and sustain the lead over the pesky Bradley. Finally on 18, both went into a greenside bunker, and when Bradley’s 8-foot putt slid by the hole, he conceded.
Spieth’s just glad he held on for a victory, trying to reach the weekend for the third time in his six tries here.
“If you lose your first match, you don’t control anything going forward,” he said. “It wasn’t like a pretty match.”
Bradley won two of the first three holes when Spieth started out tight. The Dallas native was drastically short on a 25-foot putt on No. 1 and missed the green and a short 8-footer on 3. However, Bradley gave one back on 2 when he ricocheted his approach shot off a rock into the ravine and another on 4 when his 3-foot putt lipped out.
That kept Spieth in the match until he could work out the kinks.
“I felt as if it was the start of the season in a way,” Spieth said. “I felt jittery and like I was going to have to knock some rust off.”
Little wonder because even though he had nine top-10 finishes in 2021, Spieth has not been sharp so far in 2022. He posted a second place at the AT&T Pro Am at Pebble Beach, but that’s his only top 10 of the year. In fact, he missed the cut in two of his last five starts, including the Players Championship, and he tied for 60th at Phoenix.
It wasn’t until the back nine Wednesday when his game came together, starting with a terrific save on the long par-5 12th hole when he had to hit his second shot off a steep hillside to the right of the fairway. He scrambled for one of his four birdies on the day while Bradley birdied No. 1 and eagled No. 6 but otherwise couldn’t cash in.
For a time, Spieth might as well have given his clubs to standard bearer Kaden Frierson, a Hyde Park eighth-grader and a devoted fan of the Longhorn. The bushy-haired 14-year-old, who has played golf since he was 8, claims he has a 3.8 handicap. He’s come through the First Tee program and longs to play for the Longhorns some day.
His favorite player?
“Jordan Spieth,” Frierson said.
Spieth and Scheffler both bring a ton of burnt-orange flavor to this tournament, and a half-dozen or so fans serenaded Spieth with a rocking version of “The Eyes of Texas” off their balcony of a home along the fifth fairway.
Spieth clearly hasn’t had the best of seasons so far even though he remains high in the golf rankings at 11th.
The 28-year-old has gone through a lot of change in his personal life, marrying his high-school sweetheart Annie and fathering a son, Sammy. Such life events present different challenges, including all sorts of time management issues.
He plays Vokey and Scotty Cameron clubs, and they have already fashioned a putter and a wedge for Sammy that sit in his nursery at home, ready and waiting for the 4-month-old.
“So as soon as he’s able to, I’m sure he’ll be swinging it around,” Spieth said. “It’s been amazing. It’s certainly figuring out time management on the road is something — trying to be the best I can be here, there. And it’s another element of something that you want to be the best that you can be at.”
Juggling those time and energy commitments can be tricky, especially for a goal-oriented guy like Spieth who can be a bit of a perfectionist as well as the biggest in-round talker in the game. He talks to himself and his caddie constantly, as on the 14th green where he misread it, missed a 9-footer and muttered: “Just amazing. I don’t understand it.”
“And that’s really difficult to do when you want to be the best golfer, too,” he said. “So trying to figure out that balance is something that I feel pretty patient with.”
Patience is a virtue he’s having to remind himself of.
Although he had a strong 2021 with a runner-up finish at The Open Championship and a spot on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team, he took some time off for family and the baby, who arrived in November.
“I think last year helped a lot with being able to feel patient with it right now,” he said. “Like I feel like my game is in a better place than last year with not quite the consistent results to show for it with a couple outlier rounds with crazy conditions here or there. But I feel really good about my game and it has actually gotten better, week to week, month to month, since this time last year.
“So I think I’m doing a good job of it. But it is certainly a balance where your priorities shift a bit, but my drive to try and be the best golfer in the world has never been higher.”
Wednesday’s match could be just the start.
He said he’ll take a lot of momentum from the victory, minus his A game, because he had precious little prep time on this golf course after an early course closing Monday because of extreme weather conditions and blustery wind on Tuesday.
If his final four holes are any indication, he could be back on his game in no time.
“I look at this week trying to just gain momentum,” Spieth said. “The more rounds I can play, the sharper I get. You’ve got to keep winning matches in order to keep getting rounds in this tournament, so it was just an edgy, edgy match and sometimes you’ve got to grind those out.”
Grinding it out is good.
Now where are those diapers?
