Jordan Spieth has admitted that it has been unusual to return to Royal Birkdale and see some of the changes from when he won The Open Championship in Southport back in 2017.
Few would have ever imagined that Spieth would head back to Birkdale still awaiting his fourth major victory. But unfortunately, the last few years have not been particularly kind to the Texan on the course.
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Tom Kim, Johnny Keefer, and Michael Thorbjornsen all finished inside the top 10 at the Scottish Open
It is more than four years since his most recent PGA Tour victory of any kind.
Perhaps more worryingly, Jordan Spieth has not finished a major inside the top 10 since The Masters in 2023.
Jordan Spieth reflects on the changes to Royal Birkdale ahead of The Open Championship
He will hope that returning to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs will inspire Spieth to roll back the years over the coming days.
However, Birkdale has changed quite substantially since Spieth lifted the Claret Jug nine years ago. Several holes have been changed since the previous Open at the venue, with the par three 14th one of the holes that has disappeared.
That was the site of potentially the greatest shot of Spieth’s career back in 2017. And he admitted that it is somewhat surreal to return to find the hole gone.
“Yeah, definitely, especially playing the closing holes yesterday and today, walking up the 18th and remembering what it was like to walk up that 18th hole nine years ago, putt to the pins that I putted to,” he said.
“Obviously some of those holes coming in have changed. That was maybe the best shot and the best putt I’ve ever hit don’t exist anymore, which is a little unusual.
“Hope to create some more great memories here. It’s a fantastic track. Maybe the hardest Open venue, most difficult Open venue; obviously weather dependent. It’s certainly shown that in previous Opens with scoring.
“Dried up this week. It’s going to play quite different than the last time we were here. We’ve had an opposite wind too, the last couple of days. So we’ll see what happens with the wind direction because that’s everything out here, right?
“Holes that are close to being drivable become mid to long irons, and just with the wind switch, the difference into and down are so dramatic over here that picking a strategy is going to be key, and it’s going to be quite different than the last time I was here.
“Nevertheless, I have great memories, and just reliving some of the shots, especially in the closing stretch.”
Why Jordan Spieth does not mind not getting to play the old Royal Birkdale
It is difficult to make the case that Spieth would have taken any momentum into this week from being the previous Champion Golfer of the Year at Royal Birkdale.
He has been unable to register a top 10 on the PGA Tour this season. So it would be a fantastic achievement if he could put himself in contention over the coming days.
It is probably fair to say that it would have been helpful had Spieth had those positive memories, particularly on the back nine, that he could use to help him this time around.
But he did explain that there is one upside to the scale of the renovation as he reflected on the changes to the 15th hole.
“In some regard, it’s kind of nice because last time, it was like a walk-off. I go back and try to do it again and I don’t hit as good of a shot, then it’s not as cool,” he said.
“Yeah, it was interesting to see because the hole is still there. The tee boxes are still there. Now the patrons are using it, but it almost looks like they still use it, I don’t know, like you could play 19 holes here, it seems. It kind of flows nicely.”
Spieth will hope that the new layout is as good to him as the previous one. But it would certainly be a huge surprise if he was able to win a fourth major this week.
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