With a stuffy nose and clogged throat, Dallas native Jordan Spieth, as usual, offered thoughtful answers to reporters' questions Tuesday, two days before his hometown AT&T Byron Nelson tournament.
Then he went out in gusty conditions and hosted the annual Youth Clinic, presented by Under Amour.
Though just 22, 2015 Masters and U.S. Open champion Spieth has become an unofficial host of sorts at the tournament he began attending as a child.
And the tournament in which, as a 16-year-old Jesuit junior, he tied for 16th.
"I'm telling you, if we won this event, that would be a very special moment I would cherish forever," said Spieth, who since his 16th place tie here has tied for 32nd, 68th, 37th and 30th.
"This is the event my dad and I would hop the fence to come in and watch. We also paid for tickets some years. Some years we had to maybe park too far away. I think one year he got his car towed when we were parking a little too close.
"But this is my hometown event, the event I learned to love golf at."
.@JordanSpieth the magician @attbyronnelson @PGATOUR. pic.twitter.com/Q6T36oUvAP
— PGA TOUR Media (@PGATOURmedia) May 17, 2016
During his 24-minute news conference, Spieth was asked about an array of topics, ranging from Rougned Odor's punch of Jose Bautista to his house guests this week to the state of his game after missing the cut at last week's Players Championship:
His health
Spieth's eyes were red Tuesday, he kept having to clear his throat and it sounded as though his nose was stopped up.
Spieth said he had some allergies that led to some throat problems, which led to a virus.
"It's nothing major," he said. "I'll kick it by the time we tee it up."
His house guests
During last year's Nelson, Spieth hosted in his home tour players Justin Thomas and Patrick Rodgers, along with his caddie Michael Greller and Greller's fiancé.
But that was back when Spieth lived in a mere $2.3 million Preston Hollow home.
Spieth has since upgraded to tour player Hunter Mahan's former Preston Hollow home, which he purchased for $7.1 million. Along with 10,000-plus-square feet of living space, there is a 16-car garage and 6,000-square foot indoor basketball court.
But this week's only guests at the Spieth Resort & Spa are SMU-ex and 2007 U.S. Amateur champion Colt Knost, Greller and Greller's wife, Ellie.
Spieth's housemate and former University Texas teammate Alex Moon is in the Nelson field on a sponsor's exemption, but Spieth said Moon has chosen to stay closer to the Four Seasons this week.
"I honestly don't know why," Spieth said. "Maybe it smells at the house, I don't know."
Still, Spieth said it's rewarding to get to show hospitality to Knost and the Grellers.
"It's a tournament week, but everyone that we get to have these experiences on the road with, now we get the experiences at home," he said. "It's awesome. . . Really wish Moon the best and I'll be pulling really hard for him."
Odor's punch
Speaking of odors. . .
Spieth, a lifelong Cowboys, Rangers and Mavericks fan, of course has seen video of Odor's sock to the Bautista's jaw.
"Everyone is talking about it," Spieth said. "It was exciting.
"Could we see that happening on the PGA Tour? Probably not. Would it be exciting? Yeah. Would it make the news? Probably. Are there people that I would want to punch on tour. No (smiling), actually there's not."
Trinity Forest
The AT&T Byron Nelson is under contract to be played on the TPC Four Seasons through 2018. The tournament's future home, Trinity Forest Golf Club in south Dallas, isn't scheduled to be complete until this fall.
Spieth, who is a member at Trinity Forest and goes there to work with his longtime instructor and Trinity Forest director of instruction Cameron McCormick, was asked Tuesday to give an early scouting report.
"It's got a lot of similarities to Pinehurst No. 2, the wild grass, sunflowers and weeds and all this stuff that kind of make for a cool rough," Spieth said.
Spieth pointed out that the fairways are a type of zoysia only offered at only one other Texas course, at Tiger Woods-designed Bluejack National near Houston. And, Spieth added, Trinity Forest has firm and fast Bermuda greens with runoff areas.
"There's no trees on the golf course," Spieth said. "Plays like an American links golf." Spieth says he has played about 12 of the holes. The clubhouse won't even be complete for a year. Spieth said PGA Tour players frequently ask him about it.
"Will it attract bigger and better fields?" Spieth asked. "I don't know. It's too early to tell right now.
"But it's a very different course to this (TPC Four Seasons). I think the stadium that brings in the last few holes is so cool, and I haven't played the last few holes on Trinity, I don't know how (they will play) or if it's going to be similar.
"This event is so cool, it's such a cool finish. And Trinity Forest is a great spot, too. It's so early to tell."
I feel great about the way I'm hitting the ball right now. I didn't have my (putting stroke) last week, and I did some good work with Cameron the last two days and I seem to have gotten it back.
The state of his game
"I feel great about the way I'm hitting the ball right now. I didn't have my (putting stroke) last week, and I did some good work with Cameron the last two days and I seem to have gotten it back.
"I knew it was something simple, and it was. So if we can just continue to do that and roll those putts in, we'll be in business."
No. 1 ranked Jason Day
Spieth was paired with Day in the first two rounds of the Players Championship. Day scored 14 strokes better than Spieth over those two rounds.
Day went on to win the Players, his seventh victory in his last 17 starts. In the last nine months, he has been paired with Spieth three times in the first and second rounds of a tournament and shot 10 strokes or better than Spieth.
Day said Spieth's Masters and U.S. Open victories provided incentive for his hot streak, which included outdueling Spieth in last season's final major, the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Spieth, ranked No. 2 in the world, has done the math. Even if he wins this week's Nelson and next week's Dean & Deluca Invitational in Fort Worth, he won't surpass Day in the ranking.
"He's separated himself and that bothers and motivates me," Spieth said. "I'm also motivated by what Rory McIlroy can do, what Phil Mickelson can do, these guys that have won four and six majors.
"These guys that are legends now and future legends of the game, I can be inspired by all of them."