06 December,2014 05:20 AM IST | | V Krishnaswamy
Jordan Spieth flew almost right across the world from Sydney to Orlando for the Hero World Challenge and quickly admitted that it was the farthest he had flown
Spieth tees off yesterday
Orlando (Florida): Jordan Spieth flew almost right across the world from Sydney to Orlando for the Hero World Challenge and quickly admitted that it was the farthest he had flown. He also admitted to jetlag, but smiled and said that he had overcome it and felt 100 per cent. Well, anyway, you don't need an excuse when you have just shot a six-under 66 and lead one of the most starry fields.
Spieth tees off yesterday
"This is the furthest by far that I've flown. I was jet lagged (initially). Yesterday I was very tired. It was rough. Today, I felt fine. I was 100% today. (I) should stay that way the rest of the week," he said.
The pairings for the second round at the Hero World Challenge are based on first round scores, so Spieth will go out in the final pair with defending champion Zach Johnson (67), while Rickie Fowler (67) goes out with Steve Stricker (67). Henrik Stenson (67) and Graeme McDowell (68) are third from last with Tiger Woods (77) as the first pairing with late entrant Patrick Reed (73).
Spieth is a young man with big ambitions, though he keeps those thoughts to himself. Soft-spoken and very polite, he is also willing to bide his time.
On the eve of the tournament, he admitted to having had some goals for the year and they seemed to have achieved to a large extent, though it could have been better had he held on to the lead he had on the final day in Augusta.
What Spieth did brilliantly in Australia was putting. He has been working on it constantly. He said he and his Australian coach, Cameron McCormick, had worked on it in Australia and no sooner he got to Isleworth, he did the same.
He said, "That's what Cameron and I worked on right when we got to Australia. I had some putts that I didn't like that I hit in the final round of Japan that could have won me the tournament there, and so we worked on my stroke mainly. We spent most of our time on the putting green on Tuesday and Wednesday before the tournament in Australia."
On Cameron's presence and the work he did with him, he said, "It was really nice to have him there. It was something so minor that I wouldn't have been able to tell. And if I did, I would've tried to fix it in Japan. But it freed me up and gave me the confidence inside 10 feet to be aggressive. This week, I'm just trying to continue that and get my ball striking where it was last week or even to Japan."
