Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth Set to Chase Title at Valspar Championship

Both Tommy Fleetwood and Jordan Spieth sit one stroke back of solo leader Adam Schenk at the Valspar Championship, and they’re both hungry for a victory on Sunday.

Fleetwood, who shot a bogey-free 2-under 69 on the gusty Tampa Bay afternoon has won six times on the DP World Tour, but has yet to hoist a trophy on the PGA Tour.

After a strong showing at last week’s Players Championship, Fleetwood believes he’s in prime position to climb that hurdle.

“I’ve had my chances before and it's not happened for me, but I think I've got a lot of events left in me and I don't plan on winning once I would like to win multiple, multiple times,” Fleetwood said. “When my day comes that will be great. Hopefully it's tomorrow, who knows.

“But I think putting myself into contention more often and like I have done playing late last week on Sunday, tomorrow I'll be out late on Sunday and I think that's the first step to winning, putting yourself in contention. Then we'll go from there. But, yeah, I would love to get my first win out here and then push on from there. I'm excited about the challenge again and we'll see.”

Spieth posted the same score as Fleetwood, but in typical Spieth fashion, the Texan’s scorecard looked nothing like the Englishman’s smooth-sailing day. After carding an eagle on his opening hole, Spieth went on to make just seven pars. Five bogeys and five birdies rounded out the rollercoaster round, leaving him in a tie for second place with Fleetwood.

Walking it in 🔥@JordanSpieth keeps it rolling with another birdie @ValsparChamp. pic.twitter.com/LkwVJH8tiu
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 18, 2023

According to Spieth, his group was put on the clock at the start of the back nine and the time pressure bothered him for the remainder of the round.

“We got put on the clock on 10 and that set me off. I was a mess trying to rush and play the back nine,” Spieth said. “It's just so hard any ways when the wind's blowing out here. Then you can't step off because you're going to get a bad time. So that really stunk. And we didn't get off of it the whole rest of the round. So I think I need to handle those kind of situation as bit better tomorrow. I didn't do a very good job of that today.”

Despite managing a solid score, Spieth knows he reverted to some of his old ways on Saturday, letting distractions get the best of him.

“I was not myself for a lot of that round. I've been trying to not talk as much and just kind of hit and go and hit the next one. And I kind of reverted back. But luckily it was Saturday and so I gave myself an opportunity to change that for tomorrow,” Spieth said.

On Sunday Fleetwood and Webb Simpson will tee off at 1:30 p.m. ET, and Spieth and Schenk will follow them in the final pairing at 1:40.

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