For a man who’s been winless for almost four years, a different Jordan Spieth showed up at the Sony Open this week. The wind tested his game across two rounds. When asked about handling such conditions, Spieth couldn’t help but admit what hadn’t been said out loud yet.

“You have to be more creative,” he said, while talking about how one should play in a windy course. “But being creative would show you where things are at. In the last couple of years, if it were like this, I would’ve been in a tough spot.”

He isn’t in a tough spot now. For him, things are “better, and getting better.” For the first time in several years, he is excited about what’s coming next.

The slump that golf’s Golden Child endured hadn’t been easy. The now 32-year-old first made mechanical changes to his swing back in 2017, which completely altered his career. He went 82 events without a win, a drought that finally broke at the 2021 Valero Texas Open. His last win came at the 2022 RBC Heritage. Since then, Spieth never quite found his momentum.

A wrist injury in 2023 made things worse, lingering well into 2024. He suffered from an extensor carpi ularis (ECU) tendon issue that he had been ignoring for years. Then came his neck injury. He sat through the entire fall season, with criticism mounting over his head. Spieth dropped significantly in the ranks (77 on the OWGR). But by December, he could feel better. “I feel healthy,” he said.

His longtime instructor, Cameron McCormick, has been helping him reverse the bad habits, bad swings, and bad posture. That work likely explained his absence during the off-season.

“I feel like I should have the structural integrity of my swing by the time I get to January,” he shared. Finishing first or 20th, Speith’s focus was on the progress made on the scoreboard.

His start at the Sony Open backed up those words. Spieth opened with a 2-under 68 with a playing style that displayed his freedom, particularly in the wind. He also hit a 131-yard approach on the par-4 16. He ended that with a 10-foot birdie. On the 18th, he sent a 19-foot eagle and then a birdie.

“You have to hit shots that are uncomfortable,” he told the press. “You hit clubs that feel like…way over the green, and if they do, it would be awful…you just have to trust them.”

This trust could push him toward a better ranking than he’s seen in years. He would be aiming to avenge his 2023 missed cut at the Sony Open. For the last two years, he had sat out of the event entirely. But there might be another challenge ahead: his age.

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Jordan Spieth wakes up to a different ‘aged’ body

“There are certainly days where I wake up, and I’m like…ten years ago didn’t quite feel that way,” Jordan Spieth said yesterday during the press conference at the Waialae Country Club.

The 32-year-old knows that as the body nears 40, it starts showing cracks. He’s experienced those cracks now and again. When Spieth wakes up in the morning, his body feels stiff. That stiffness grips him for half an hour before he forces himself to focus on other things. As the day unfolds, he feels better.

For Spieth, acceptance is the better choice. He likes being present and tells himself that he’s living his dream. None of this feels like a job to him, and that’s why if he had a chance to go back in time, he wouldn’t change it.

“It’s fun to be healthy and fun to be knowing I’m working on the right things and fun to be out here competing,” the three-time major winner said.