Jordan Spieth admits what Scottie Scheffler did in round three of The Memorial was a disappointment to him

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Jordan Spieth went into the halfway stage at The Memorial Tournament with a genuine chance of winning the event for the first time in his career, with the three-time major champion just four shots back of the lead.

The last few years have been difficult for Jordan Spieth, with his last PGA Tour victory coming back in 2022. Obviously, he has been dealing with a wrist injury for much of the time since.

He had a taste of contending at the WM Phoenix Open before Thomas Detry ran away with the event at TPC Scottsdale. But his only other top five this year came at The CJ CUP Byron Nelson.

Of course, if Detry ran away with the title in Phoenix, Scottie Scheffler flew away from all of his rivals in McKinney. The world number one had an eight shot lead over second after the third round. Spieth meanwhile, made up 19 places on the final day with his 62 at TPC Craig Ranch.

Jordan Spieth left disappointed by what Scottie Scheffler did in round three at The Memorial Tournament

So it feels significant that Spieth is tied for fourth with one round to go at The Memorial Tournament. But there is one big problem.

The lead may not be eight again, but it is Scheffler who is out in front. The 28-year-old made four birdies in his final five holes on Saturday to take charge.

That leaves Spieth five shots back. And speaking about the drama of his third round, the Texan admitted that he feels as though he is a little too far back to catch Scheffler.

“Yeah, it didn’t feel like as much as maybe — like, I saw the scorecard, when I was just signing it, I saw it on the tape delay. I saw the broadcast. And I was like, it didn’t feel like that. You know, I had a lot of controllable situations, par threes or shots from the fairway where I was just really close and then from where I was really close, I ended up leaving the ball in a spot where even though it was inside 10 feet, you got to play three feet of break, and they’re just hard putts. I hit some lips on those, missed some high, low, in between,” he said.

“So it just felt like it was close to really good. Yesterday was the day where I could have gone really low. Yeah, I mean, it didn’t feel like a roller coaster. It’s nice to have the firepower, the amount of birdies today, on day like today. The game’s feeling better and better. I feel like I’m hitting my positions on — call it half or 75 percent of the swings when I was searching for one or two in a round even as recent as a month or two ago. It’s trending the right direction. I’m able to be a little more outward-focused instead of just trying to make swings and that’s making a difference.

“A course like this, no matter what happens tomorrow, I know if I’m able to play consistent golf on a course like this, then I’m heading the right direction, and I just need to stay the course. It’s going to take a little time. I’m not only coming off a surgery, but I’m coming off a poor year for me last year. So I’m trying to, you know, obviously get healthy, but also get things moving the right direction and it’s really fun when they are because then I enjoy going to work and that’s what’s happening right now.

“Today, I felt like I was in the mix on the weekend in pretty much a major championship, a top five, top eight tournament that we play in the world. So that was fun. Hopefully, make a few early tomorrow and it’s just going to be — the bummer for me is Scottie’s at seven or eight, and he just — you know, you can’t count on him shooting even tomorrow, so it would take something special, but all in all, just trying to shoot a few under each day out here.”

The one area Jordan Spieth has struggled this week at Muirfield Village

There has been one area of Spieth’s game which has cost him this week. He is inside the top 10 for strokes gained off the tee, approach and around the green.

However, he has lost ground to the field on the putting surfaces at Muirfield Village.

Another good round on Sunday should give him a great chance of securing another top five finish – his first in a signature event this year – and give him a big boost heading into the US Open at Oakmont.