Albeit the success of 2015 may influence his thinking, Jordan Spieth will place team success over that of an individual variety during the next fortnight. When asked which he would cherish more, a FedEx or Ryder Cup, Spieth's desire to be part of a winning USA contingent at Hazeltine was abundantly clear for merely the latest time.
Spieth will spend the coming days in the Tour Championship at East Lake, where he is seeking to defend the FedEx Cup – and pick up a $10m bonus – he claimed a year ago. Next weekend, the Texan is likely to play a key role as the USA look to turn around a dismal recent Ryder Cup run.
“I don’t have a Ryder Cup,” Spieth said. “I think I will have a Ryder Cup at some point. I think that will be easier to win, easier to have a Ryder Cup than a FedExCup going forward, given you may not play your best and you’ve got team-mates around you that play their best and win it.
“But if you’re saying 2016, right now I’ve got a choice, Ryder Cup. You want something that you don’t have. That’s a trophy that I’ve watched the other side of [at Gleneagles in 2014] and it hurt. It was tough at the closing ceremony.
“We had a good time that evening but when we boarded the plane back home, it was an empty feeling. We don’t want that again. We remember that, those of us that were there, and the guys that were there in Medinah in 2012. We want that celebration. We want that champagne falling off the balcony. I’m pretty confident about how we’re going to go about our business. I think we’ve got a fantastic team this year, one of the best teams I can remember looking back at, and I love being a part of that.”
Not that Spieth has diverted focus entirely from the Tour Championship, which capped off his stunning 2015 season. He was on site at Hazeltine on Sunday and Monday as a batch of US players joined those – Bubba Watson, Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger – who are looking to receive Davis Love III's final captain's pick.
“The best chance I have for next week is to go out and play my best golf this week,” Spieth, 23, said. “We have plenty of time. It doesn’t start until Friday. It’s a long week there, I’ve got experience of what that entails. We’re busy every night until 10pm during the Ryder Cup with dinners or galas or ceremonies and it wears on you. So having gone and played those two rounds was a big advantage for my preparation next week, but now that I’m here, I’m only thinking about this.”
Should Watson, the world No7, be overlooked then controversy will ensue. Spieth’s sentiments are understandably mixed, given a long-time friendship with Thomas and the belief that history illustrates there is no obvious value in Ryder Cup experience when it comes to wildcards. From Thursday attention will understandably fall on Thomas, Watson and Berger as they compete on the outskirts of Atlanta.
“I think it’s challenging [for them]. I think it’s tough,” Spieth said. “And the reason I say that is because I’ve spent a lot of time with them. Justin’s admitted that he’s put so much pressure on the Ryder Cup this year, he thinks it negatively affected some of his performances where, if it just wasn’t on his mind at all, he’d have maybe felt a little less stress or pressure trying to grab points at the end of the round instead of just playing his game.
“I think Berger’s the same way. Bubba, what is he, seven in the world? That’s tough right there. There’s 24 players in the Ryder Cup that go down to, I don’t know what the lowest world ranking is. I don’t know if anybody’s ever been passed up at that spot. But they all know that, if they come in here and if they can somehow block that out and focus on this tournament, it will help all of them. We want who’s hot.
“In my opinion, we want whoever’s playing the best to be the last pick.
“Bubba didn’t seem upset about anything. He didn’t seem like he was entitled to any position or any advantage over anybody else. I think he really feels like he needs to do his job this week.”
(Guardian service)
