THE MODERATOR: Good evening, everyone. I'm joined by the runner-up in the 149th Open, Jordan Spieth. Jordan, not quite the result you would have hoped for today. Can you sum up how you're feeling just now.
JORDAN SPIETH: It's hard to be upset when I was a couple over through 6. I couldn't have really done much more after that point.
But the finish yesterday, was about as upset as I've taken a finish of a round to the house. I walked in and wanted to -- I said, Is there something that I can break? I knew that was so important because I would have been in the final group.
Anyway, had to regroup 18 hours later and then just had a lot in between clubs, and you have to be so precise here. You need some good numbers. Then kind of fatted it off 6 and went to 7 thinking, Okay, now we're going for everything, and we're going to see what happens.
I'm proud of going 6-under in the last 12 in this golf tournament and putting some pressure on Collin.
From what I've heard, since he made -- I guess made a big par save on 10, made a putt up the ridge on 14 and a par save on 15. I needed a break, and I didn't get it from him. I did all I could. So I'm upset because I really felt like I played well enough to win and made a couple of really dumb mistakes that possibly, if I had maybe played the week before, wouldn't have made.
Like just stepping in and missing a couple footer on 18 yesterday, not really thinking about it. But at the same time, I did everything I could in the past few hours to win this championship.
Q. Did you have concerns about your putting last night that you needed to shake off, or was it more of a mental lapse?
JORDAN SPIETH: No, my putting is not where I want to be at all. I say at all. It's progressing the right direction, but it's not where it has been. And I know what needs to do to get there, and it's just very difficult to do.
But it's rounds like today or this week, major championship rounds, where you have to obviously test not only your touch out here, but also a lot of knobs and breaking putts and trust lines. It's a good test for it.
I just wasn't extremely sharp with the putter this week. I was sharper than I was at Augusta, and it's been a little bit kind of here and there this year. My bad weeks have been okay and my good weeks are really good, but I needed to put in a little bit of work trying to almost get a solid couple hundred to 500 putts in between yesterday's finish to today's round to think that I could go out and confidently go stroke enough to win.
Q. At what point last night did you get over the end of your third round, if it was last night or this morning?
JORDAN SPIETH: Probably after dinner. I was 60 yards out in the fairway and made bogey on 17. Then I had a good look straight up the hill on 18. I finished 2-over on those holes, which what was frustrating was the separation it would have been. It would have been three of us separated by at least three shots from the field and I would have been in the final group.
So it was kind of a double whammy there where you feel like you're not worried about someone going low behind you as much and you feel in control when you're in the final group. So that was a new one for me, but I would say after dinner. What good does it do to be upset? You come out today, and I kind of came out with, yes, I should be leading the tournament. That's how I felt.
But now I get to play with a chaser's mentality, which sometimes can be with a bit more freedom.
Q. Not being in the final group is what bothered you most, it sounds like.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it's just I've been in that position a lot of times, and it's a lot nicer when stuff's happening in front of you and you can control, you can still birdie that hole, versus I get off the 16th today and it's like, Well, they could birdie behind, and there's nothing I can do about it now.
When you're the last to come in you've got the last chance on 18, and I think that's the easiest place to come from, especially when it's easier conditions.
If we had wind and rain and all that, then obviously, as this tournament has showed at this venue, it's nice to post, but that wasn't going to be the case today.
Q. Just a question about Sandwich and the location. How much have you enjoyed being here and being on this golf course?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, we, unfortunately, are not able to explore, but I did enjoy this golf course from when I first played 12 holes last Sunday, and I thought that it was quirky in a fun way. I think we only late today did we start to see the wind that the course is designed, I think, to play in.
So I don't think we got the same test as those guys have had in years past. But even saying that, each hole provided its own kind of unique way to play it because of that, and I thought that the R&A did just a fantastic job of allowing the scores to happen.
I mean, the pins were on some pretty diabolical locations, but it stayed, I think -- didn't let it get out of hand firm to where you had no chance and it became luck or bounce dependent.
It stayed in a position where you can really golf your ball, and if you happen to make birdies and 15-under does win, then so be it, because we don't normally get this nice of conditions at the Open Championship.
Q. When you said that Collin didn't give you the break that you needed, he's also made a bit of history today, winning two majors ion his debut. What does that say about the player he is and the player he can or will become?
JORDAN SPIETH: I don't think there's anything I need to even say about it that hasn't already been talked about or that he's certainly proven. I think I would say less is more at this point. Stay down the path he's on. He swings the club beautifully, gets it in positions that make it very, very difficult to not start the ball online, so therefore, he's going to be very consistent tee to green.
Clearly, with the shots he's hit and the putts he's holed, he's not afraid of high pressure situations and winning a major championship.
Is he 21? Is that it? How old is he? I don't even know. 24? At 24 obviously there's a bright future ahead. That's pretty special. I think winning one can happen to a lot of people playing really good golf in one week, and I think winning two, three more -- or more, he's obviously proven that this stage is where he wants to be.
Q. When he got to 15-under, he just didn't let go, did he?
JORDAN SPIETH: I'm very aware of that, yeah.
Q. I have a couple for you. TV showed video of you arriving at the course, and you had your putter with you. What did you do with it last night?
JORDAN SPIETH: We're all staying together anyways, and Michael took the bag, and I wanted to hit some putts on a putting rail that you can't use on the greens here because there's too much -- you need flat surface. It's not uncommon for me to do that.
So I just wanted -- he went to the course early, and I just wanted to hit a few putts before on the putting rail before I came over, a rail that I've used for a few years now.
Q. You won majors -- you won two majors out of your first ten tries. This is now two out of eight for Collin. I wonder if you could just recollect what you felt like when you won that second major and kind of what was ahead for you.
JORDAN SPIETH: That's a good question. I think -- I felt, I guess, obviously very pleased, but almost like -- almost felt like, Wow. I almost felt like, Oh, wow, that's good timing. You're playing well week in and week out. He's won other golf tournaments, but, wow, that's good timing.
I think what's interesting with Collin too -- and this doesn't really answer your question; I'm sorry -- but his other wins had come with little to no crowds, a few of his other wins, and then some with modified crowds.
Then you step in to 35,000 and holding a lead down the stretch, I think is really impressive considering that's a first -- not only first Open Championship, but given the timing of when he's been out here. He spent a year, year and a half of that in essentially a crowdless environment, and it's harder. It's harder with big crowds. You feel it more. You know where you are. It's a bigger stage. I think that's impressive.
I don't really recall -- I mean, I won my second, we were just getting into the season, and I remember going then and was on a streak. I won my next tournament, the John Deere, and went to the Open Championship to try to win three in a row. I just remember everything was easy, everything was fun, things were going your way, everything is very smooth.
I think it's certainly not going to be the case over the course of a career, but he's got the potential and the game, and the head, to be able to manage any kind of bumps in the road.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports