COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Plenty of golfers might be reluctant to change much about their game when on a run like what Jordan Spieth brought to the Memorial Tournament. Fresh off consecutive top-10 finishes, Spieth was warming up on the range at Muirfield Village Golf Club when he noticed a little something.
It wasn't a big deal, and it certainly wasn't an overhaul. But it helped Spieth shoot 2-under-par 70, pulling him to fourth place after a second solid round Friday afternoon.
"I just continued work on what I'm trying to do in my swing," Spieth said. "I'm really not trying to change my swing. I'm just making minor adjustments to get it to where it's been when I was the best in the world tee-to-green, which was a couple of years ago. Things get off, and then you figure out what they are and you work them back."
That process took significant time, he said, and is now paying off to where he expects to see week-to-week improvement. It's got him in contention to break a streak of 45 straight PGA Tour starts since his last win, which came when he won the Travelers Championship and the Open Championship back-to-back on June 25 and July 23, 2017, respectively.
More recently, Spieth finished third in the PGA Championship and eighth in the Charles Schwab Challenge for his lone top-10 finishes this year. On Friday, he birdied three holes and had one bogey for just his second of the tournament.
This came on 15, where he found the green on his second shot and had a 44-foot putt for par that came up a foot short.
"That putt was probably the hardest two-putt on the golf course," Spieth said. "When I hit it, I thought I maybe hit it a little too far by, and if you get it going four feet by, it goes 30 yards down the hill."
As the tournament progresses, Spieth said he expects the greens to speed up and play more to his strengths. Given that, and where he stands, the native Texan said he's encouraged.
"Two bogeys in the first 36 holes, if I could duplicate that, I'd like to think I'd make as many or more birdies over the next two days," he said. "For me it's about eliminating mistakes, and I've done a good job of that."
