For a former World No. 1 and three-time major winner, Jordan Spieth’s 2026 season has been disappointing. Before Thursday, Spieth’s best finish was a tie for 11th at the Valspar Championship in March, matching his result earlier that month at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. But he appears to be en route to breaking that curse, as he wrapped up round 1 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship tied for 1st. Something has clearly changed, and during the press conference, Spieth revealed the strategy that helped him do so. 

“I just tried to come into this week and just be as patient, nonreactive as possible, dumb it down to try to win the golf tournament and not worry about anything else,” Spieth said. “Just knowing that I’m a lot better golfer than I’ve been in a very long time and continue to believe in that.”

The 33-year-old is chasing his 14th PGA Tour victory since defeating Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the 2022 RBC Heritage. He entered the FedExCup Playoffs having qualified for the postseason for 14 consecutive years, but his 54th finish in the regular-season standings reflected a largely underwhelming campaign. Spieth recorded no top-10 finishes in 21 starts, making a strong showing in the $20 million purse event all the more important.

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He delivered exactly that with a brilliant, bogey-free opening-round 5-under 65 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, putting him in a tie for the early clubhouse lead. After opening with eight consecutive pars, Jordan Spieth found his rhythm on the back nine, making five birdies over a seven-hole stretch. He avoided any major mistakes in the sweltering Memphis conditions and finished strongly to share the lead with Michael Thorbjornsen.

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Despite the struggles he has endured this season, Spieth said he remained remarkably stress-free throughout the opening round.

“If you look at the stats, you’ll see four or five missed greens, but I had a putter in my hand on every single one of them. They were on the fringe. If you want to count that as 18 greens, it becomes about as stress-free as it can be,” he said. “… I could have gotten into some trouble early in the round today, and I played the right spots, stayed patient, and my tap-ins didn’t frustrate me.”

Last year, he entered the FedEx St. Jude Championship ranked 48th, finished T38, then dropped to 54th and failed to qualify for the BMW Championship. He finished 61st in the final FedExCup Fall standings with 927 points. In 19 starts, Spieth posted four top-10 finishes and earned roughly $3.16 million, but finished outside the top 50 after the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Jordan Spieth was well aware of this, but today, as he explained, he is in a different place.

“It was tough. I think the tougher part was the last couple of years. I was very clearly going in this direction [indicating down]. I was not as good as I was earlier in the season,” he added. “I just feel like… I’m just in a very different place about the game of golf than I was the last couple of seasons heading into this event. Again, if it’s going to work out, great, if it doesn’t, I know next year is going to be an awesome year for me.”

It appears the first round at TPC Southwind has given Jordan Spieth the confidence to bounce back from a not-so-impressive season. But there are still three rounds left.