Jordan Spieth urged his fans not to read too much into his missed cut at the Northern Trust Open.
Spieth’s biggest rival, Rory McIlroy, had said earlier in the week that he considers the tournament at Riviera Country Club to be the start of his preparation towards the Masters, the first major of the season starting in the second week of April.
While McIlroy was in the mix at the halfway stage, four shots behind leader Jason Kokrak at six-under par at the halfway stage, Spieth missed the cut by five shots with rounds of 79 and 68.
The Texan seemed to be struggling with his form the week before at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he finished tied 21st despite a closing 66.
And Spieth, who takes a two-week break before playing the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, said: “I guess Rory is considering this as the start to his run at the Masters. This was not my start to the run at the Masters. Mine will start the next time.
“I’ve been trying to rest and maybe not practice as much as I normally would to kind of conserve energy.
“It kind of showed this week. I just need to be out there on the range a little bit more than I have been leading up to events… In order to really feel like I’m gearing up and I’m ready for the Masters come April, I’m going to need to start ramping up that ball count.
“I will be ready to go in the next tournament. I am not going to let this one get to me very much.”
Last year, Spieth followed a missed cut at Torrey Pines with a tied seventh at Pebble Beach. He followed a missed cut at The Players Championship with a tied second at Colonial. He did suffer back-to-back missed cuts to start the FedExCup Playoffs, but then bounced back to finish T13 at the BMW
Championship before winning the FedExCup at the Tour Championship.
In his 11 missed cuts since 2013, Spieth has followed with six top-10 finishes, albeit none as a tournament winner.
“We rebounded in perfect form last year on just about every missed cut,” Spieth said. “We’ll be fine.”
