With the help of Tiger Woods, Kevin Na has started a movement on the greens. Joel Dahmen has gone all in, walking in putts from all sorts of distances. Tony Romo learned from Na himself at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May. On Thursday 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 at TPC River Highlands, Spieth had 28 feet left for his birdie and left it two feet and seven inches short. 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:
Spieth's overall putting numbers have actually been quite good this season (top 7 on tour in sg: 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 on the season. He's currently a distant 103rd in three-putt avoidance on the year, a problem dating back to the 2018 season, when he finished 141st in that same category. The previous three years he finished 7th, 22nd and 37th.
As for long distance, Spieth has been as good as he's ever been, ranking 1st on tour in putting from 20-25 feet. On Thursday, four holes after this miss, he rolled in a 43-footer for birdie at the par-3 eighth. They all count the same.
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