AUSTIN (Texas) — It wasn’t the worst Jordan Spieth day.
He was able to avoid the scary-looking garter serpent that was crawling along the sixth fairway.
When his tee shot hit the green, hitting one man in the chest, and then ricocheted off, he made some new friends.
He made enough mistakes during his second round match that he has plenty of motivation to improve his game before he tees off at Austin Country Club’s World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Play.
It was a difficult day for the ex-Texas Longhorn great who, despite not being on his best, was able to keep his cool in his showdown against Taylor Montgomery.
The back-and-forth match was over at the 17th green when Spieth, a Tour rookie, sank his 6-foot, 4-inch birdie shot for a 2 and 1-win — his sixth birdie and second in three holes. Spieth quickly ran up the hill bordering his hole, then hopped into a cart and was gone.
Practice was, of course, the best option.
Perhaps that’s part a new strategy for Spieth, who is usually very quiet. After making a stunning, 85-foot flop shot from No. He said that he was trying not to be as chatty while on the course, after he won his 4 and 3 over Mackenzie Hughes.
Talk-show hosts don’t have the same charisma as this guy.
“Yeah. I’ve been trying hard to hit and play and not talk so much. Spieth stated Wednesday that he did a good job. “I wouldn’t say that I did a great job on my last hole. I felt like I was doing a terrible job hitting it over here and ended up holing it. Although it doesn’t affect my play, it does mean that I use less energy.
He will need to conserve as much energy as possible.
Montgomery was not in the mood for conversation, but he did enjoy talking about his time in the sun. Montgomery, a tall, 6-3, 215-pounder athlete, is making his first appearance at WGC-Dell. He has played in only 18 PGA Tour events and is ranked 57th worldwide.
He’s still a game player, and he is remarkably consistent. Even if the wind blows at 30 mph like Thursday, he can putter. Because the wind was slower than normal DMV lines, it made greens readings more difficult for players.
How does this win rate work?
Montgomery said, “I mean high up there,” and has four top 10s, one of which was third. It’s match play so it’s only one match. It’s cool. You beat one of the greatest players in the world. It’s always good. It’s not a bad thing.
It could only get better.
Montgomery held onto the win by the end of the match at mid-afternoon despite the overwhelming support for Austin’s son. He was unflappable and never got too excited, but he still holds the win after his two matches.
Spieth (1-1-1) will face Shane Lowry from Ireland. He needs a win, a loss by Montgomery, and a playoff victory between them to advance to the knockout round. Lowry is not feeling well after losing his first two matches to Mackenzie Hughes (4-3), and Montgomery (2 and 1) on Thursday.
This is in line with Lowry’s record at the Dell. The British Open champion for 2019 has a respectable 6-14-3 overall record in WGC Match Play tournaments, and a 3-11-2 slate at ACC.
This is the beauty of this event. It is unpredictable only because of its predictability.
The tournament has been won by a 32nd- or lower-seeded golfer in seven years of the Dell’s history at ACC. This includes some of the best seeds 1 (Dustin Johnson), 2(Jason Day) as well as 5 (Scottie Scheffler).
Montgomery, a UNLV grad and former basketball player at age 28, could be one of those people. At his post-round presser, he was self-deprecating and admitted to reporters that he had to ask Cameron Young “how to get here.”
Spieth is clearly more familiar with the ACC layout than he is with his celebrity status as a 13-time PGA Tour champion.
He had his fair share of difficulties on Thursday at the place he used to play for Texas qualifying. His course knowledge was no help. He missed the par-3 4th hole, three-putted the 13th hole, drove into water on the 13th hole, and couldn’t find his rhythm throughout the day.
Despite his incredible career, the 29-year old Texan is not able to stop himself from being brilliant in his game. Although he hasn’t been in a winner’s circle since April 2022 when he took the RBC Heritage, he has been close with three top-six finishes at Valspar Bay Hill and Phoenix. He still ranks 14th worldwide.
However, he isn’t alone in struggling here at ACC at a tourney he would love to win at his college.
Spieth has only made it past the round-robin stage three times in eight previous Dell appearances. He did not make it past the quarterfinal round Saturday. In the playoffs, he lost to Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen.
Spieth was at his most spiethian on the seventh hole. A wind gust blew his tee shot across the green and hit one man below the right shoulder, before hitting another’s phone.
Jake Galloway did get something at least for his troubles.
The Houston 24-year-old said, “Yeah. He gave me a glove.” “How cool is this?”
Galloway did not tell the ex-Longhorn that he was a Texas A&M graduate. At least, he got a souvenir. Mike Vaccariello just got a sore chest.
The Strongville, Ohio fan said, “I love Jordan Spieth.” “I would love to get a glove too.”
This isn’t unusual, Spieth was able to hit another fan to help him at the Players Championship. He also rewarded him with tickets free of charge and a signed flag.
He also found his ball in the mulch behind his green hugging a large limestone boulder. He hit a poor chip, which raced past the pin, but he recovered well and drained a 30-foot par putt to huge applause.
Montgomery replied, “Oh, it was coming,” “I told my caddie that we needed to make this putt and I feel like he will make par. He did. Jordan doing Jordan things.
To survive and advance, he’ll need to do some Jordan stuff on Friday. He’ll need help to derail Montgomery so he has something to talk about.
