PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Jordan Spieth is much more pleased about the state of his game than the early season results would show.

To his eye, what he did Thursday at Spyglass Hill Golf Course – a bogey-free 66 that vaulted him into contention – mirrors what he’s seeing in practice at home. Not the mopey version that missed the cut at last week’s WM Phoenix Open, perennially one of Spieth’s best events on TOUR. He called that downtrodden version of himself a “fluke.”

“I got in a bad kind of mental place Friday,” said Spieth, who played his last eight holes in 4-over to miss the cut at TPC Scottsdale. “I was swinging it well and I decided to tell myself I wasn't. I just had a bad day.”

That’s part of the ongoing battle for Spieth as he attempts to ascend back into a top-10 player who consistently wins TOUR events and contends in majors.

The body is not the problem anymore. The wrist injury that plagued him for years is gone. Now more than a year out of surgery, he’s had ample time to return to old swing feels. Those pieces began to fall into place this offseason. Now it’s about his mental, convincing his mind to believe what his body is telling him: He’s on the right track.

Spieth didn’t do it last week, but Thursday’s opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was a good start.

“This is more of how I feel I've been,” Spieth said.

This version of Spieth will have more than a few of his super fans wondering what could be this year, partly because this round was the exact rollercoaster that made younger Spieth so intoxicating. Spieth hit only eight fairways and 11 greens, yet didn’t make a bogey. He hooped his approach shot on the par-4 ninth for an eagle and poured in his fair share of birdie putts to make the turn in 5-under.

He held on during his back nine as the swing started to waver a bit and the wind came up, disgusted with his tee shot on the par-3 fifth, yet still able to hit his recovery shot inside 5 feet and make the par saver. When it was over, Spieth stood 6-under, four shots off Ryo Hisatsune, who shot 10-under across the road at Pebble Beach.

“When I got into trouble, I got out of trouble. Obviously, holing a wedge shot was probably the highlight of the day. But I just really plotted my way around,” Spieth said. “When I missed, I missed in the right spot. I'd like to get a little bit tighter as we go around Pebble, but at Spyglass, 6-under may be the best I ever shot around here, so very pleased.”

Pebble Beach was an ideal setting for Spieth to get his head on straight. After the frustrating missed cut in Phoenix, Spieth flew out to Pebble Beach on Saturday. On Sunday morning, he played a round at Pebble Beach with his brother, then bounced a few blocks down and played Cypress Point, one of the great 36-hole days in all of golf, if you can find your way on both.

That transitioned into heavy swing work on Monday, tightening up the loose ends from the previous week. Tuesday and Wednesday were largely drowned out by the weather, but Spieth had made a full mental reset by his Thursday morning tee time.

Now comes the interesting part. Even in Spieth’s struggles, he’s prone to posting a low score. The problem has been replicating for four rounds. If it’s going to happen somewhere, Pebble Beach or Augusta National are the leading candidates. He won the event in 2017, finished runner-up in 2022 and has four other top-10s here in his career. It’s the only other venue other than Augusta that Spieth has been able to show up and play well, regardless of form.

It’s hard to have a better mental picture of a venue than what Spieth has here. Let’s see if the body and mind can align for another special week on the Monterey Peninsula.