Jordan Spieth bounces back with 68, makes cut at Valspar Championship
Jordan Spieth rebounded from a 76 on Thursday with a 68 to make the cut at the Valspar Championship.
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2 min read
The golf world can take a collective deep breath as Jordan Spieth bounced back from a first-round 76 with a 3-under 68 on Friday to make the cut at the Valspar Championship and go to the weekend 2-over for the tournament in T43 position.
Spieth opened his second round with a bogey on the par-5 first hole after his tee shot was unplayable, and it seemed as though things would continue to go south fro the world's No. 1 player. However, Spieth rebounded with four birdies on his front nine to just two bogeys and then had a bogey free back nine to post a 68 and keep himself around for the weekend.
"I couldn't really figure out how to set the club [with my driver] to get it where I wanted [on the range], and sure enough I get to the tee and I do the same thing and tug it over into an unplayable and make six ... I'm walking off that green going, 'Oh boy, we can either flip this around today or that's going to be the key for me not being here for the weekend," Spieth said.
"I thought it was really strong what we did after that. ... I feel like, where my game is at and how it progressed through the round, I feel like I'm actually in this tournament. I thought that was huge ... Only positives going forward."
With the leaders of the tournament only seven ahead of him at 5-under, Spieth is correct to think he still has a shot at winning this tournament and defending his title. The 18-hole leaders both fell back with Keegan Bradley shooting an 8-over 79 to miss the cut and Ken Duke posting a 2-over 73 to move back to T12 at 2 under.
The current leaders are Steve Stricker and Will MacKenzie at 5 under for the tournament. Those two have combined to miss nine cuts and have just one top 50 finish this season between them, so there isn't too much concern over either one running away and hiding from Spieth, just seven strokes back.
If Spieth can figure out the greens this week -- he noted that he is struggling with committing to a line because they aren't rolling "as true as we're used to" -- and replicate his ball-striking from Friday (5.205 strokes gained tee-to-green), then he should be able to make a run at the front page of the leaderboard come Sunday.
