“It’s impossible to struggle in silence” – Jordan Spieth opens up on tour woes

Jordan Spieth has pointed towards similarities between his and Rickie Fowler’s recent tour struggles and says that he understands what the five-time PGA Tour winner is currently going through.

Three-time major champ Spieth has roared back from his own rough patch, finishing no worse than T15 in his last three starts – his best run of form since posting three consecutive top-10s in June 2019.

With Spieth looking like he has come through the worst of his travails, he has offered support to close friend Fowler as the 32-year-old looks set to miss out on an exemption category at the Masters in April for the first time since 2010.

“For him, and for me too, the most difficult thing about struggling is when you’ve had a lot of success,” said Spieth.

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“Therefore, it’s almost impossible to struggle in silence, in darkness, and get your work done in the dark.

“There’s just going to be so much noise around and so much emphasis on results versus the true understanding of what your end goal is and how much time that can take in golf.”

Once a top-five player in the world, Fowler has slid all the way to 65th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Since his last win at the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open, the 32-year-old has more missed cuts (12) than top-10s (eight).

Spieth also endured a tough 2020 as he posted only three top-10 finishes, the worst since he received his PGA Tour card in 2013, so knows more than anyone what it will take for Fowler to fight through his current malaise.

“Struggling publicly when you’re somebody like Rickie, it makes it hard,” added Spieth. “Blocking out the noise is so important and sticking to what you’re doing is so important and having a team around you that can tell you that.”

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“He’s trying to make changes with an end goal to be more consistent and better than he ever was. They’re significant changes. It’s not going to be easy. You can’t just continue to compete and win while you’re trying to make big changes. I think he’s sticking to it, he’s a very, very, very positive person and I think that’s going to serve him well.”