Jordan Spieth was brutally honest about the difficulty of this year’s US Open course. This year’s third major is being hosted at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, which is widely known as one of the hardest courses in the world. Several players have gotten off to slow or disappointing starts, with the current leader being JJ Spaun at -4. For Spieth, it was a middling start.
The three-time major champion is currently at even, recording five birdies and five bogeys on the afternoon. Spieth is squarely in the hunt right now and tied for eleventh overall. The 31-year-old, however, got brutally honest about this course as well as how it can change going forward.
“If you miss the fairway. It’s essentially a stroke penalty. There’s a few places where it’s not the case, but on almost every hole it’s a stroke penalty. I was close to shooting three under and finished at even. I mean, you know, I think I would have signed for it three more times to put me in a good spot, but we’ll see how the course changes. A couple of fairways became impossible to hit today, and that won’t change tomorrow. And then if we get a little rain, maybe we’ll get a chance to score a little, but we’ll see.”
Spieth is in much better shape than many contenders heading into the US Open. The two major winners from this year, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, are currently at +4 and +3, respectively, while world No. 3 Xander Schauffele sits at +2. The headline name near the top of the leaderboard is five-time major champion Brooks Koepka. The 35-year-old has a history of success at the US Open, winning it two years in a row in 2017 and 2018. Koepka sits at -3, which is good enough for third overall.
Overall, Spieth is trying to regain the momentum he had earlier in his career. The Dallas, Texas native was the next big thing in the sport early in his career, having won three majors before he turned 24. Spieth still has the talent to get back to the top of the sport, but it will be a grind the next few days to stay in this tournament till the final day. But so far so good!
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