Kevin Na has started a movement on the greens. Joel Dahmen has gone all-in, walking in putts from all sorts of distances. On the opening day at the Travelers Championship, Jordan Spieth gave it a whirl, and he quickly found out it’s not for everyone.
After hitting the fairway and finding the green in regulation at the par-4 fourth hole at TPC River Highlands, Spieth had 28 feet left for his birdie and left it short by two feet, seven inches. The Spieth of 2015, 2016 and 2017 is likely banging that in with his eyes closed, but the current version of the three-time Major winner has been shaky with the short ones. Still, he was feeling confident when he made the strike, so confident that he stepped after it, only to watch it brutally lip out back in his direction:
There can only be one Kevin Na. pic.twitter.com/CmIq687hum
— Skratch (@Skratch) June 20, 2019
Spieth’s overall putting numbers have actually been quite good this season (top-seven on tour in strokes gained: putting, putting average and one-putt percentage). But if one thing has been lacking it’s been the short putts, which has led to a total of 31 three-putts for the season so far. He’s currently a distant 103rd in three-putt avoidance, a problem dating back to the 2018 season, when he finished 141st in the same category. The previous three years he finished seventh, 22nd and 37th.
As for long distance, Spieth has been as good as he’s ever been, ranking first on tour in putting from 20-25 feet. Today, four holes after this miss, he rolled in a 43-footer for birdie at the par-3 eighth. They all count the same.
