Things are never dull when Jordan Spieth is around. Captivating creativity, the occasional dollop of chaos and some meaty conversations with his caddie that resemble the Frost and Nixon interviews tends to make for a pretty engrossing spectacle.
You certainly get your money’s worth with the 28-year-old Texan and he was in enchanting form here at The Renaissance yesterday as he bolstered his push for the Genesis Scottish Open title.
While is fellow American Xander Schauffele leads the field by two heading into the closing round, Spieth conjured an eventful show that glistened like the Firth of Forth in the sun as a four-under 66 hoisted him on to a four-under aggregate.
That left him three behind 54-hole leader Schauffele who was left to rue a brace of bogeys at the 17th and 18th which gave the chasing pack renewed vigour ahead of a final day shoot-out.
Spieth will certainly have a spring in his step as he seeks a maiden victory on Scottish soil and his back-nine yesterday took flight with a brace of eagles.
Having made a three on the par-5 10th with a raking approach which rolled off the humps to a few feet of the cup, Spieth then upped the ante on the 15th and flicked his approach with a wedge into the hole for a two.
“I try to believe that I have a knack for just getting it in the hole however I can and some days that means ball-striking and some days that means scrambling,” said Spieth whose intrepid routes to the hole could almost see him ditch the strokesaver in favour of an Ordnance Survey Map.
After his second round on Friday, the LIV Golf rumour mill got clanking and clattering again and churned out wild speculation that Spieth was poised to be the next big name to jump on board the Saudi-backed gravy train. The 2017 Open champion swiftly pored cold water on that particular round of golfing gossip. “I was made aware of some false reports so I needed to set the record straight,” he said. “It kind of stinks that anyone has to necessarily do it but it's not really a big deal.”
A big deal, however, would be winning a title in the game’s cradle. “I guess my Open win was in England,” added Spieth of that Claret Jug conquest down at Royal Birkdale five years ago. “Links golf is arguably my favourite kind of golf and I don't know of any country that has more fantastic links courses than Scotland. It would be meaningful to win Scotland's national championship as it seems like it's one of the biggest international events of the year."
As he continues to build up a head of steam for the 150th Open next week, Spieth was understandably chipper about his current position. “My goal coming here was to have a chance on the Sunday,” he said of a successful first outing in the Scottish Open. “There's no better prep for a major than winning the week before. Having said that, being in contention gets as much prep done as possible, so I'm glad to be in the position I'm in.”
Schauffele’s position at the summit could have been even more fortified had he not leaked those two shots on the run-in but the in-form Olympic champion wasn’t going to let that sour his supper after a 66 for seven-under.
“They are hard finishing holes so I’m ok with the day,” said Schauffele, who won on the PGA Tour a fortnight ago and notched another win at the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland at the start of this week.
“I had pretty much everything going. I was judging the bounces well, I was making the putts I needed to, I was getting up and down when I was missing the greens. I had six birdies through 16 holes and no complaints.”
One wry complaint he did have, mind you, was the lateness of the tee-times. The golf writers roared in agreement. The last group didn’t blast off yesterday until 3:40 pm, with Schauffelle setting out at 3:18pm. “3pm tee-times are a bit of a stretch for me,” he said of these pesky timings in force to suit television coverage in the US. “It would be nicer if it was before noon just to get out there and get going.”
Lurking behind Schauffele is Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello, the Scottish Open champion in 2017, who posted a 67 which included an eagle and three birdies in four holes from the 10th as he barged his way into the running on five-under. The former Ryder Cup player is also on course to secure one of the three Open places up for grabs.
There’s still plenty to play for in this Scottish showpiece.
