Spieth's 61 Vaults Him Into Tie in Phoenix; Potter Remains at 5 Under
Sunday, February 7, 2021

    Jordan Spieth fired a 10-under-par 61 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open yesterday, tying the best round of his career and sending him into a first-place deadlock with Xander Schauffele at 18 under heading into the finale of the $7.3 million tournament. 

    Spieth will play in the final group today for the first time since The Open Championship across the sea in 2018. He didn't win that day, and his last victory came in the same event the year before. His current status on the PGA Tour is surprising - he's 179th on the FedEx points list, and has meager earnings of $101,112.

    Ted Potter, meanwhile, probably destroyed his chances at a second straight top 25 when he hit it in the water on the 17th and 18th holes, and dropped from 7 under to 5 under with a pair of bogeys. 

    Ted made four birdies and two bogeys on the front nine to get to 7 under, and possibly signaled things to come by hitting it in the water and taking bogey on the par-3 12th, dropping to 6 under. He missed a birdie putt of 6 feet, 4 inches on No. 13, but made the stroke back on the par-5 15th where he hit the green in two and two-putted from 68 feet away. He then missed another birdie try of 8 feet, 7 inches on the famed par-3 16th, before his troubles with H2O derailed him on the last two holes.

    Ted wound up at 5 under with rounds of 66-71-71 and tees off today at 10:14 Phoenix time on No. 10 with Robby Shelton and Satoshi Kodaira.

    Spieth and Schauffele have a three-stroke edge on Scottie Scheffler and Kyoung-Hoon Lee, both at 15 under.  Louis Oosthuizen, who shot 63, and Justin Thomas, with 64, both moved up the list and are tied for fifth at 14 under. 

    Seminole Brooks Koepka is at 13 under, tied for seventh with Steve Stricker, looking to become the oldest winner ever on Tour. Gator Billy Horschel is tied for 25th at 8 under.   

   

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