Given their close relationship, it’s to be expected that Smylie Kaufman is always going to remain in Jordan Spieth’s corner. But Kaufman’s reasoning as to why Spieth could return to his old self in 2026 goes a bit beyond just simply gassing up your boy.
Kaufman, who joined us on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast, believes Spieth is a very confident man heading into 2026. And Kaufman said that after the three-time major winner finished in a tie for 19th at the Hero World Challenge, otherwise known as dead last in the 20-man field.
“I think he was first or second in strokes-gained/approach [that week],” Kaufman said. “That’s the model he keeps trying to get back to.”
The model is the 2017 version of himself, a year Spieth won three times including the Open Championship. In the eight years since, Spieth has won only twice, a product of both poor play and a handful of injury issues he hopes to leave behind in the new year. Spieth’s last victory on the PGA Tour came in April of 2022 at the RBC Heritage. When he begins the 2026 season, he will have already eclipsed his previous longest winless drought (2017 Open Championship to 2021 Valero Texas Open).
The near decade-long malaise that has had Spieth’s legion of fans in a mental stranglehold may finally be coming to an end, though.
“I think he’s down to that one feel and that one thought,” said Kaufman. “He just doesn’t have the competitive reps yet, like with retraining your mind of like, ‘dude, you don’t need to go do that.’ Like this one swing thought is fine.”
Kaufman, who will be on the call this week at the Optum Golf Channel Games, expounded on that thought during our full interview, which can be heard below. Please, have a listen, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts: