PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Jordan Spieth trickled in a 9-foot putt to finish his round on Friday and, for a brief moment, pulled his hat over his head.

For the second day in a row at the Valspar Championship, Spieth had bogeyed his closing hole. And for the second day in a row, he played his first nine holes under par before closing with a second-nine 38.

Spieth opened with a first-round, 2-under 69 at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club's Copperhead Course before carding a second-round 70 to get to 3-under par, five shots back of the clubhouse lead set by David Lipsky.

"I don't think the stats show," said Spieth after his round on Friday. "I feel like the way I'm playing is I'm driving it, I think I'm driving it in the top 20, I think I'm striking it in the top 20, I think my short game's in the top 20, I think my putting's in the top 20. I've made some bad decisions or hit some wrong tee shots at the wrong time or missed contact that has cost me from having a chance to win three or four times and finishing where I finish. ...

"So I'm extremely frustrated when I don't get the most out of my round because I'm playing better than I'm scoring on a week like this week. That's the frustrating part. But I would much rather be on that side of it than anywhere else."

Spieth, who won this event in 2015 and finished T3 in 2023, came out hot on Friday. Starting on hole No. 10, he birdied Nos. 11-14 with putts from 29, 6 and 16 feet and was third in Strokes Gained: Putting. A wayward drive on the par-4 16th hole led to bogey, but he rebounded on the subsequent hole with an approach shot to 6 feet for birdie.

After making the turn, his momentum slowed down as he couldn't make up-and-downs from bunkers on the second, eighth and ninth holes.

"I had three plugged lies in bunkers today off pretty good iron shots that if I was playing a different wind," said Spieth. His lone front-nine birdie came on the par-5 fifth hole, where he spun back a wedge to 12 feet and converted the putt.

"Just like random little stuff," said Spieth, on his scoring mishaps. "Then I made a couple really bad decisions which probably cost me two or three shots. That's unacceptable. I'll fix that this weekend. That's not hard to fix. But that's what this golf course does."

The "random little stuff" has been the theme of Spieth's season – and perhaps his last few years – and a phenomenon that fans have dubbed the "Jordan Spieth experience."

In six starts this season, Spieth has finished in the top 25 three times, most recently at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, but hasn't seriously contended. His last win was at the 2022 RBC Heritage, and since then, he's undergone wrist surgery in 2024 and played his way into the top 50 in the 2025 FedExCup.

Spieth is choosing to see the positives from his performance. "It's a good place to be," he said. "Those are normally easier things to solve, they're just more reps and I'm in a confident place. ... But I would much rather be on that side of it than anywhere else."