Jordan Spieth lurks near the lead at Colonial. Here’s what he thinks is needed to win

Drew Davison
·3 min read

Jordan Spieth isn’t going into the weekend with the lead, but he’s feeling good about his chances to win another plaid jacket at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Spieth, a native of Texas who played for UT Austin, posted a bogey-free, 4-under 66 Friday, putting him four shots off the lead as of when he finished his round.

“I feel good just because the ball-striking has been really solid for me,” Spieth said. “I feel good about being able to adapt, make adjustments and strike it better on the weekend. Then the hole is starting to look bigger and bigger.

“I feel good about tackling this place in some tough conditions.”

Those conditions involve wind gusts of up to 30 mph over the weekend. That could lead to some high scores, given Colonial’s tight fairways and small greens.

Spieth said if he duplicated his 5-under score from the opening two rounds that it may be enough to win a second plaid jacket.

“I think I can shoot 5-under on the weekend, and I think you’re looking at that being — with what’s forecasted, something around what you need,” said Spieth, who won in 2016 and has three runner-up finishes (2015, 2017, 2021).

A score of only 10-under last won this event in 2017 when Kevin Kisner was crowned champion. Spieth finished one stroke back that year.

Regardless of what the number is by Sunday afternoon, Spieth has momentum going into the weekend. He played solidly all day Friday, starting off on No. 10 and opening with back-to-back birdies. He then rolled in a 32-footer for birdie on No. 14 and closed his round with a 35-footer for birdie on No. 9.

On the day, Spieth made 133 feet of putts compared to 53 feet during the opening round Thursday.

“Just putted beautifully today. Better speed control, left it in the right spots,” Spieth said. “I think I took advantage when I could.”

While Spieth is in the mix, he’ll have to move his way up the leaderboard over the weekend. Beau Hossler and Scott Stallings were co-leaders sitting at 9-under when Spieth finished Round 2.

Others ahead of Spieth included Chris Kirk (7-under), who won the Colonial in 2015, and Viktor Hovland (6-under), who is ranked No. 7 in the world.

Hossler projected the leader by the end of the day may get into double digits but wasn’t sure if Spieth’s prediction of 10-under for the potential tournament victory would hold.

“I’m tired of predicting because I’ve been right and I’ve been dead wrong, so I don’t know what it’s going to be,” said Hossler, an Austin resident who played at the University of Texas. “I’m going to say we will see on Sunday. It could be 8-under, it could be 20. We’ll see.”

Similar to Spieth, Hossler had a bogey-free round Friday. He made five birdies, which was exciting enough, but didn’t compare to his Thursday round.

Hossler holed out for eagles on No. 6 from 65 yards and No. 9 from 135 yards during his opening round.

“I hadn’t holed out in I don’t know how long, but to have two within an hour was pretty unique,” he said. “Certainly yesterday was more of an up-and-down round. Today felt frankly — never really stress-free, but as stress-free as it’s going to get.”

TCU shutout

TCU fans won’t have a golfer to cheer on this weekend.

Tom Hoge missed the cut for the third straight year as he couldn’t overcome a 5-over 75 on Thursday. Paul Barjon also struggled Thursday with a 10-over 80, leaving him on the wrong side of the cut line in his Colonial debut.

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