Want to Know What's Wrong with Jordan?

That's the big question right now: What's wrong with Jordan Spieth? Why can't he crush fields the way he did last year?

Just so you recognize, not anything is truly wrong with Jordan's recreation, aside from the everyday u.S.And-downs of golfing that affect each person. His stats look very much like final year, as you may see on his stats pages. (That link will robotically carry you up on his 2016 stats. You can check any season by way of changing the 12 months in the top right corner of the 'Statistics' tab.")

His riding stats are nearly equal, even though he is hitting barely extra fairways this yr (63.76% VS sixty two.91% in 2015).

His proximity to the hole is worse this year (37' 3" VS 33' 8" in 2015). That extra 4' 5" is enough to reduce his odds of making putts... but he's actually making more one-putts this year (44.79% VS 44.26% in 2016). So that may not be as bad as it appears.

His scrambling is likewise slightly worse (sixty one.06% VS sixty five.03% in 2015).

It would possibly wonder you to understand that his average placing stats are nearly identical to remaining yr, although his Strokes Gained Putting stat is worse (.372 VS .571 in 2015). I was genuinely amazed that neither year regarded in particular suitable to me, but Aaron Baddeley became the pleasant remaining yr with only .722. Steve Stricker is excellent this 12 months with 1.Half but most effective he and Jason Day are better than 1.000.

The truth is, none of the stats seems to be special enough to give an explanation for Jordan's struggles this 12 months -- no stat, that is, except for his general Scoring Average. Last year he averaged 68.938 strokes according to spherical; this 12 months it's handiest 70.086 -- a difference of 1.148 strokes.

Let's add Stokes Gained Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained Putting for each 12 months:

• 2016: 1.205 + .372 = 1.577
• 2015: 1.583 + .571 = 2.154

That's a difference of .577 strokes per round.

Bear in mind that we don't have a complete yr for 2016, so it's a smaller sample size than last yr and that could be skewing the stats slightly. But the hassle appears clean sufficient:

This 12 months Jordan is taking about one extra stroke in step with round than he did remaining 12 months, or four extra strokes according to tournament. And the Strokes Gained stats simplest account for a touch over half of it.

So I can't help but wonder if maybe he's just putting too much pressure on himself to match last year's performance, even though he says he doesn't expect to match it. But we've heard him berate himself harshly on the course quite often this year. Given how often he told us last year that he wasn't on a streak, and that he expected to play at that level all the time, I'm not sure I believe him when he says he has lower expectations now.

Perhaps when he stops berating himself so much at the path, then perhaps I'll accept as true with him. I assume his mind-set is the real trouble, and a change in that's what I'll be watching for the rest of this year.