Jordan Spieth surged into contention at TPC Craig Ranch with a bogey-free 9-under 62 on Friday. For years, he found ways to deal with his problems and still play well, but during the offseason, he decided to fix them instead of working around them.

After the round, Spieth told reporters that he feels very confident about his game right now. "It's physically and my mechanics," Spieth said, per Flushing It on X.

"I got pretty off for a long time. I've been trying to build it back, and then I'd compensate and do what worked."

Spieth noted that he finally moved away from those physical compensations.

"This last offseason I said no more compensating because, to be consistent, I've got to get it back to a certain place," Spieth said. "It's been work from then to try to get there. But it's all in mechanics and health."

Spieth opened the week with a 3-under 68 that he felt should have been lower after a lack of preparation on the renovated TPC Craig Ranch layout cost him shots on the back nine.

While the 62 moved Spieth closer to the top, he remained well behind leader Si Woo Kim, who fired a 60.

For Spieth, the score mattered less than how comfortable and confident he felt after years of working to regain his best form.

On Friday, his putting was the strongest part of his game, and that was what Spieth wanted to discuss after the round.

Jordan Spieth on His Putting: "I Felt Like the Lid Comes Off"

Spieth was direct when asked what carried him through the round, and it wasn't the driver. He said he drove it "horribly, like really badly." It was the flatstick.

"Putting was the best," he said. "I felt fluid with it."

The goal heading into Friday was simple: build a stroke he trusted and stay focused outward rather than inward on the greens. He said he worked on it Thursday night and carried it into Friday's round.

"I've been telling Michael for a while I just feel like one lip in instead of lip out. And I feel like the lid comes off," Spieth said. "I lipped out a few yesterday; I had one on No. 10 go across the lip today. But then the one on No. 1 could have been short and fell in."

He acknowledged the streaky nature of putting and said Friday was simply one of those days when it went the right way. "Sometimes I've certainly shown that I can get streaky with it," he said. "And was able to kind of get on the right side of that today."

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav