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Jordan Spieth believes a return to links golf at The Open can help him rekindle the form that helped him capture the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale.

Remarkably, Spieth hasn’t tasted victory since taking down Matt Kuchar in dramatic fashion – the only player in the world top ten to have not won in the last 12 months – and admits that his form so far in 2018 is not what he’d hoped for.

Since his late charge at The Masters, where he finished third, Spieth has missed three cuts in seven events with a best finish of T21 and says he feels refreshed after four weeks away from tournament golf.

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“I needed a break,” he conceded. “I was dragging along, cut-line golf for a while and playing a pretty heavy schedule and I needed to get away from the game, which I did.

“Coming to an Open Championship requires a lot of feel and imagination and I think that’s what I need a bit of in my game. I became very technical and very into making everything perfect instead of playing the way I normally play.

“So this week provides that opportunity where you don’t know how far the ball is going to go off the tee. You need to play from spots and use your imagination.

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“After my break, I feel like I’m in a position now with every part of my game. I kind of attacked the places that really needed some strong work. That, combined with the way an Open Championship needs to be played, I think, puts me in a really good spot to kick-back into shape.”

Jordan Spieth gets the defence of his Open title underway at 9.58am on Thursday in the company of Justin Rose and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.