Spieth on putting: 'It's just a minor slump'

Jordan Spieth - arguably one of greatest putters of all time - is in a “minor slump” with putter in hand, but is confident he will find his groove soon. 

Sitting 195th in the Strokes Gained Putting for the new PGA Tour season, he comes off a missed cut in the Phoenix Open last week, his first in eight months.

“I still believe that most of the guys who sit on this stage right here, if you ask them who they want putting on their team in a Ryder Cup, I believe they would say my name,” Spieth said. “I have no doubt in my abilities.”

“It’s just a minor slump. I’m just trying to get back. I got a little on top of it, and I was kind of hitting the ball into the ground with my hands pretty far forward, which is opposite to my natural tendency going back to when I was eight years old. I just got into a place I hadn’t been before, and I just kind of have to get back in a comfortable setup position. And everything will fall through from there.”

“The idea is to just stop thinking, just putt, and not having to worry about things,” Spieth said. “That’s not the reality for a little going forward, until my setup over the putter, I’m seeing my lines and I’m set up toward those lines.”

The two-time major champion plays the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week, where he has a scoring average of 68.8 - the best of any player with more than 10 rounds at the fabled venue.

“Last year was the first year where I lowered my expectations on the greens, and just accepted hitting putts at the right speed, and putting them around the right line,” Spieth said. “And if they fell, they fell. If they didn't, move on and hit as many greens in regulation as possible.

“I was striking the ball so well last year at this event, that I had one good putting day, and the other three were kind of average and that was good enough to get a win. So that was big as I go forward in this event.”