Spieth in upbeat mood as playoff momentum builds

[September 02, 2016]  (Reuters) - Reigning FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth heads into this week's Deutsche Bank Championship in buoyant mood with his swing in good order as he builds momentum for the second of the PGA Tour's four lucrative playoff events.

The American world number three tied for 10th at The Barclays on Sunday and has good memories of this week's venue, the TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts, where he shared fourth place on his tournament debut in 2013.

"It was a good start last week," twice major winner Spieth told reporters on Thursday while preparing for Friday's opening round, which he will play in the company of Australia's Adam Scott and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo.

"I struck the ball really nicely ... made a few nice putts but I gave myself a lot of chances given how difficult Bethpage was. So I am confident coming back to TPC Boston here where I have some pretty special memories going back to 2013.

"I am looking to build momentum and last week that was really what I was looking for. Obviously I was trying to win, that's the best momentum you can get, but I felt like I built some up."

A year ago, Spieth missed successive cuts at The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship before ending the playoffs with victory at the Tour Championship to clinch overall FedExCup honors and the bonus of $10 million.

"FedExCup is a huge goal of everybody's," he said. "Guys talk about it constantly, they talk about it like they talk about majors. It's a life-changing type of event to win.

"It was really special for me last year and it would be really cool to add another one of those at some point. My swing seems to be getting into a position that it was in last year ... so I feel pretty good about this going forward."

Fresh from victory at The Barclays on Sunday when he also locked up a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, red-hot American Patrick Reed heads the FedExCup standings going into this week's event.

Jordan Spieth watches his putt on the 13th hole during the second round of The Barclays golf tournament at Bethpage State Park - Black Course. Mandatory Credit: Eric Sucar-USA TODAY Sports

"It just kind of shows how hard I worked all year and how we've kind of set a game plan on how to improve on my golf game, because I felt like I've played really well all year," Reed said of his sixth career win on the PGA Tour.

"Hopefully I can keep on feeding off this and go chase another win (at the Deutsche Bank Championship)."

The top 70 players on the FedExCup points list after the Deutsche Bank advance to the Sep. 8-11 BMW Championship in Carmel, Indiana where the leading 30 will qualify for the Tour Championship finale in Atlanta two weeks later.

Among those in danger of being eliminated after this week's event are Americans Chez Reavie (70th) and 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson (74th), and Australia's Marc Leishman (71st).

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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