Jordan Spieth says the Open Championship at St. Andrews is ‘arguably the best golf tournament we play’

For Jordan Spieth, it’s pretty simple.

St. Andrews is the best.

While taking questions from the media after his first round 68 on Thursday at the Genesis Scottish Open, the final prep for next week’s Open Championship, Spieth was asked: Do you look forward to St Andrews differently than other venues for The Open?

His answer was right to the point.

“I think the Open at St. Andrews is arguably the best golf tournament we play,” he said.

So why is St. Andrews, considered the home of golf, so special?

“I just think the history of it, playing in the town, the idea that it could be the easiest or the hardest venue that we play depending on the day. Maybe it’s just I remember watching certain ones growing up, and so the holes, the kind of scenic holes, starting and finishing.”

The last time the Open was played at St. Andrews was in 2015. Zach Johnson won the Claret Jug that year but all the talk, all the buzz, all the questions heading into that week centered on Spieth.

After all, he arrived in Scotland having won the Masters and the U.S. Open—the first two legs of the grand slam—and so the anticipation was thick as the then-21-year-old arrived at the Old Course.

“It was a really special tournament for me back in 2015, trying to go for a third in a row and just kind of the crowd, you know, the putt I made on 16 and kind of the finish, it was really fun contending in that major and having a chance to win.”

Spieth ended up in a tie for fourth.

“I really wanted to win it . … to win a major, obviously the third in a row would have been pretty awesome.”

So would that be a major with bells on for you, he was asked?

“Yeah, absolutely. 100 percent. I think anybody would say that.”

This will be the ninth Open Championship in Spieth’s career; it would have been the 10th but the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

Jordan Spieth at Open Championship