MIAMI — A decade later, the setting feels familiar. The man standing on the first tee does not.

Back at Trump National Doral for the first time since 2016, Jordan Spieth is older, wiser and – I by his own admission – far less interested in South Beach nightlife. The 32-year-old, now a father of three and a 13-time PGA TOUR winner, returned to the Cadillac Championship with a different perspective and, at least on Thursday, a very familiar scorecard.

Spieth opened with a 7-under 65, one shot behind early leader Cameron Young, and did it in a way that felt equal parts vintage and evolved. There was the precision. There was the creativity. And there was a reminder that even after 10 years away, Doral’s Blue Monster Course still suits his eye.

But first, the perspective shift.

“I was in such a different place in life,” Spieth told PGA TOUR Radio after his round. “I think more I was talking about, like, off the course, like, Sunday, you know, I went out with Harris English, JT (Justin Thomas), like, we would like go out, or we go to dinners, you know, throughout the week down in South Beach, or whatever. And it's like, I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be in bed. So, I think just more of laughing about kind of the different difference 10 years makes and in life.”

That difference showed up in more ways than one.

On a picture-perfect day Thursday at Doral, Spieth looked locked in early, carding a bogey-free 31 on his opening nine. The highlight came at the par-5 eighth, where he holed out from 53 yards for eagle – a moment that felt like a flashback to the Spieth who once spent 26 weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking. For the record: He was No. 2 in the OWGR this week in 2016.

He didn’t coast from there, either. Two bogeys on the back nine were answered with four birdies, a steady response on a course that still demands full attention.

“I remember the place being super pure. It still is,” Spieth said. “I remember being challenging. You got to control your ball in the wind. I didn't remember a lot about the course of like, the size of the greens, but I did remember the par threes are just really, really hard. So keep playing those well, and I should get some opportunities on some other holes.”

That blueprint held up.

Doral hasn’t softened with time. If anything, it’s stretched. Spieth noted the added length and the continued premium on accuracy.

“It looks very similar,” he told Golf Channel earlier in the week. “You have to drive the ball well. Certainly, they took some tees back, so it’s a long golf course. There is a premium on putting it on the fairway and obviously controlling it in the wind.”

The stats – and the scorecard – support it.

But this version of Spieth isn’t just relying on feel and familiarity. He’s also tinkering. A lot.

Earlier in the week, Spieth raised eyebrows after hitting 190 balls on the range on Tuesday, the most of anyone in the field. But it wasn’t mindless reps — it was a full-on equipment change.

“Yeah, I put a new driver, 3-wood and golf ball in,” Spieth told PGATOUR.com on Wednesday.

That’s not a casual mid-season tweak. That’s a reset.

Spieth explained the change stemmed from a frustrating trend he’d noticed over the past year and a half: that shots, particularly with irons, were coming off “spinny” and falling short.

“Yeah, so I've been spinning a lot the last year and a half on the range. I just thought it was a driving range thing,” he said. “Then I had, I don't know, maybe a dozen shots I could tell you in the last year or so that came off just odd for an iron, spinny, ended up short.”

It took time – and data – to fully trust what he was seeing.

“So finally I was like, you know what, it was Hilton Head week. … I just saw it happen, and I had a couple shots cost me what I thought were perfect shots,” Spieth said. “But it was enough of a sample size to say let me explore other options.”

The result: a new driver, a new 3-wood, and a new golf ball – something Spieth rarely changes.

“No, this would be, a ball change would be extremely rare,” he admitted. “I did ball change in Palm Beach last year, so I did that mid-season, but I did it to a ball that was a little more similar. I went from the ’21 to the ‘25 X, and those balls weren't super different. This is a little bit bigger jump. But I hit enough shots to feel confident that it was better for me than what I was playing.”

A longtime Titleist player, he moved from the TSR2 driver to the GTS2 driver, while he also moved from the TSR3 3-wood to a GTS2 model. As for the ball, he changed from the 2025 Titleist Pro V1X to the 2026 Pro V1X Left Dash. The new setup is designed to reduce spin without sacrificing height, a balance Spieth believes better suits where his game – and speed – are now.

“It’s just a lower spinning ball with the same height,” he said. “I've always played the highest pin spinning ball because I thought I needed it in the long irons. Now … my spin rates have been fine if not too high. So, it's actually kind of nice to be able to drop it down a little bit.”

It’s still a work in progress. Spieth admitted the new 3-wood is “kind of a trial run,” adding with a grin, “I didn't hit it great today so I'm going to go hit a few on the range and continue to fall in love with it.”

That blend of curiosity and commitment has fueled a steady climb back into form in 2026.

Spieth entered the week with four top-15 finishes in 10 starts this season, including a T12 at the Masters, and has missed just one cut all season. The consistency has pushed him back inside the top 50 in the world – a familiar neighborhood for a player who once dominated it.

And while Young’s continued stretch of strong play has set the pace at the top, Spieth’s reemergence adds another compelling layer to the leaderboard.

Especially at a place like Doral, where experience – and adaptability – matter.

Ten years ago, Spieth was a rising star soaking in the scene. Now, he’s a veteran chasing something deeper: consistency, control and maybe another Sunday in contention.

Same course. Same challenge. Different life.

And, at least through one round, a very familiar result.