Thursday Chamblee: "Spieth is headed into oblivion. That’s hard to turn that ship around."
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Brandel Chamblee on Thursday, talking to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak.
Q: You just said Jordan is “on his way to oblivion.” I take that to mean you see him getting worse rather than better.
BC: If you go back and look at Ian Baker-Finch and David Duval’s ascent and descent in the game of golf, they track a similar path to Jordan Spieth. When they get to a point where they are really searching and they get desperate there’s not only the insecurity of whether or not you’re ever going to find it again, there’s also that psychological scar tissue. It’s like a physical wound and some of them will heal up and some of them will kill you.
Ian Baker-Finch or David Duval, no disrespect to them, but the only reason I picked them out is they made the game look so easy for a period of time as did Jordan Spieth. Their descent is a reminder to all of us that it is ephemeral. You can lose it in the blink of an eye. He seems to be searching every single week, spending lots of practice swings, over the ball a long time.
Duval will be thrilled!
Now those of us used to Chamblee’s pivots on the distance issue will not be surprised to learn he had already forgotten the comments about his fellow Longhorn when Schupak returned for a follow up. This, after Spieth posted rounds of 67-67-61.
GW: Do you want to walk back any of your comments about Jordan since we talked the other day?
BC: What did I say? I can’t even remember. I wasn’t probably sanguine about his comeback.
He did something today I don’t think I’ve seen. I’ll go look it up. I can’t remember a person being in the lead position in a golf tournament being dead last in fairways hit and next-to-last in distance from the edge of the fairway. That’s unprecedented. I don’t know how you do that. I guess you can in a place like the desert where there is a lot of luck involved in the lies you get and then you hit your irons like a God. He still has the ability to stun us with his short game and putter.
As I chewed on it today, there are a handful of people who lost their edge. Sam Snead in 1947-48 he won only one time because he had the putting yips and then he won 17 times when he sorted that out the next two years in 1949-50.
From oblivion to losing his edge is definitely different.
As for that final round 72 and playing this week, Schupak also reported on Spieth’s post round remarks stating his pleasure at having decided to play the Waste Management. The T4 was his best finish since a T3 at the 2019 PGA Championship.
The commentary is as robust as ever even when the mic’s cut off on the live network show.
Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger listed the reasons so many were happy to see Spieth in contention again.
He set up an enjoyable read this way:
But the first sentence is the telling one. All of sports are loaded with I-don’t-know. Most athletes aren’t willing to admit it. Spieth is. How refreshing.
He’s a breath of fresh air and has been for years.
I was rooting for Spieth on Sunday at Phoenix. (Yes, sometimes we root.) Unless your name is Jena or Chase, I’m guessing you were, too.
