Q. Talk about the conditions today and how you handled them.
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I would say it's more scorable conditions as far as the firmness of the greens. I thought round 1 was the firmest and craziest. But the hole locations are just so difficult to make a lot of birdies to today.
Really, No. 1 is the easiest par-4 hole location of any of the par-4s. The rest of them are just really hard to get to.
So I think that's the thing, is you may see a lot of two-putt pars today from especially like the leader groups if they're not willing to take something on.
But at the same time, there's enough reception and there's not a lot of wind. You certainly can get to some of them, but even the par-5s have it kind of in those spots that are just a little bit harder to make birdie to if you can't get on in two.
Q. Did you like the way you played today?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. Yeah. It was a bit better. My iron play killed me the last two days, and to be brutally honest with you, it was primarily mud balls.
It's just so frustrating because you can't talk about them here. You're not supposed to talk about them. Mud balls can affect this tournament significantly, especially when you get them a lot on 11 and 13. They're just daggers on those two holes.
They've done a better job -- there's like less than normal, but I still had them today on those holes, too. I had them yesterday on those holes. It's something to pay attention to for sure for leader groups, because you just have to play so far away from trouble or lay up when you'd normally go for it, just random stuff, because it will affect it significantly.
And if you're on the wrong side of the hole you're either in the water or you almost can't make par depending on what hole it is.
I just felt like today was a bit better with the iron play for me, especially early, and I just stayed alive the first few holes and then finally got a couple good looks and made them.
Q. You mentioned the mud ball earlier in the week, that you hadn't seen many. Do you think it was just a product of that rain on Thursday night?
JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah. Yeah. I was actually really surprised on Tuesday how -- but I'm expecting it a lot out here. Look, it's mowed into the grain. The ball is digging in on every shot. A lot of times you have it on 75 percent of your drives.
But it's definitely getting better, but it's like the key holes, when they pitch into -- even on 8, it'll pitch into, even though it's a downhill shot.
15 -- I'm surprised on 11, but you'll get them on 13 and 15 a lot, and it's like, all right, well, here we go.
You can always lay up, but it makes it -- with these pins, that's what I'm saying, the pins on the par-5s, if you have to lay up, they're just a little bit harder today, the first three par-5s.
Q. What gives some guys more mud balls than others?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think it's just kind of random. Obviously the lower you hit it, the less chance. But, every person is having to deal with it, but the fact that you're not supposed to talk about it is a bit frustrating because it is a difference maker. It can be a difference maker in scores on some holes.
Then today the wind is supposed to switch, turn around to what it was yesterday, so it could get really interesting around Amen Corner there because that's a turn from off the right to in off the right, and that change is pretty significant on second shots on 11 and 12. That will be kind of exciting to see, but it's not supposed to get up a ton.
I think there will be -- I think the lead will go further up. I don't think it's coming back based on the conditions today.
Q. So iron play, basically 100 percent of your frustration out there?
JORDAN SPIETH: The last couple days. I didn't drive it -- I had some driver issues, like literally the driver, so I've been in like five different drivers since I cracked mine at Pebble. I was in one that had the lefts the first day, so then I went back to another one, and this one has been really good the last two days. So other than that, it's --
Q. Did you par 18?
JORDAN SPIETH: I parred 18, yeah.
Q. You know that's your first bogey-free round since the second round in '16 here?
JORDAN SPIETH: At Augusta? That's great.
Q. Does it matter?
JORDAN SPIETH: That's the goal every time I tee it up on No. 1. I made a few eight-footers for par. You're just going to have that at some point here. Even in a really flawless round.
Like on 4 I landed it just over the bunker and it shot just over the green, and if it stays on, it's an easy two-putt, but just over, you're like, I can't chip it within eight feet, and that kind of stuff will happen here on just the severity.
If you end up -- now I'm right of the pin. If you're left of the pin, you're all good. If you're just a little off on the direction, then you've got to make that six, seven, eight-footer for par, and I've been putting those really well as of late, so I felt very comfortable if you had to give myself six feet for par.
I was like, okay, that frees me up a little on shot selection on chips and maybe using putter from off the green, that kind of stuff.
So no, I did not know that, and that's great. I kind of thought if I was perfect on the weekend, which is a lot to ask, that I'd maybe try to shoot 10-under on the weekend, and 7 would be a lot to ask for tomorrow.
If I went bogey-free today, I thought maybe I'd get four or five birdies. Look at what Zach is doing; it can be done.
Q. On 13 when you had the mud ball, how did that affect your second shot?
JORDAN SPIETH: That one was on the left, which makes it go right. But then you're on the slope that makes it go left, so I just played it flat. I just said, I'm going to hit a hard hybrid here and play a draw off this sleep, and I almost overcommitted, if anything, and if it goes left of the green, deal with it. You obviously can't miss right of the green there.
You'd almost rather -- yeah, it was probably my best swing of the day.
Yeah, it hit into the hill, but it came out so flat that it ran all the way to the bunker. I don't know how many people have been in that back bunker in two to that pin. That's probably a very unlikely place to be.
Q. Do you think if they'd have mowed the fairways normally, would that change the course dramatically?
JORDAN SPIETH: I mean, I love that it's like this because when you miss the green it makes that shot harder because everywhere you are it's into the grain. The only place that's downgrain is if you get it way up on No. 3 towards the green short of the green.
That's like the only chipping you can have that's downgrain, and that rewards you for a phenomenal shot, and it makes that second shot not get so crazy if you just happen to not quite pull it off. The better the second shot can kind of hang up in the fairway.
So I kind of like it in that regard. But I like the idea when they used to mow it down on the insides of the hole, I never played it like that, but that's sounds pretty awesome because then if you take the risk near the trouble, you get the reward of that extra maybe 10 or 20 yards depending on the hole, and that would be cool to see.
But at the same time with the sand capping that's been done, I think it's pretty much there where they've taken care of it completely, and obviously Mother Nature plays a role.
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