Jordan Spieth is in pain. But the roller coaster didn’t close at the US Open

Brooklyn, Massachusetts. –Jordan Spieth, a hundred yards or so out of the water, the first descent behind one of the Massachusetts trees dangling here, an inch left of knee-high, none seen, flipping a short iron through it, and building outside the 13th approved green.

Then he missed the knockout blow. naturally.

Speth Model Magic. Typical tragic speth. These things don’t take sick days.

Earlier this week, ahead of the first round of the US Open on Thursday, reports circulated around The Country Club that the three-time main champ was battling a stomach problem. Golf Channel reported that Spieth only hit three balls in the range on Tuesday, played very little after that and was running “about 20 percent.” Colt Nost, who also co-hosts GOLF’s Subpar podcast, noted on SiriusXM Radio that Speth was off, according to Action Network. And for a while, at least, something was up.

Spieth misfired at Bar-4, missed the lane leaving the tee, hit over the green with just a second shot and failed to get up and down. He missed par-4 3rd, lost again left lane, then lost 5 footers in equal measure. He grabbed a par-4 4th, missing the lane you know where. But you see two over 72, and you know that wasn’t daunting.

Spieth trapped a bogey at 6 with sparrows at 5 and 7. Bird 9. None of the circles came on a throw longer than 12 feet. He collapsed 10, having missed the right of the track and hit less than the green with his second shot. But he seemed more flexible.

On tee 17, while waiting for Jon Ram, Colin Morikawa, and James Piot to get off in front of him, Spieth bounced the golf ball in his hands. He looked back at a passerby behind him, to see if he could match his face. On a tee shot, try cutting the corner on the dogleg’s left, hitting a little more left than you’d like, only to run his ball up two feet and fly.

Spieth closed in with a bogey, although on a day when the scoring was low, he played the last 14 holes on one. So up and down. Then he went. He did not speak after that. He was not spotted near the players’ lounge to the left of the club.

After all, the flight was due to start again about 25 hours later, at 1:14pm on Friday.

It’s time to get better. No, not even a stomach bug can tick off the Spieth roller coaster.

Nick Piastovsky

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastovsky is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native will probably play the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his score. You can reach him about any of these topics – his stories, his game, or his beer – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.