Spieth 'free rolling' in Vegas and positive over putting

An upbeat Jordan Spieth says he feels like he is "free rolling" in Las Vegas as he prepares for his first start of the season on the PGA Tour.

Spieth will tee it up in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open having surprisingly missed out on last month's Tour Championship courtesy of a 31st-place finish in the 2017-18 FedEx Cup standings.

The 25-year-old endured uncharacteristic struggles on the greens throughout last term, but believes he will benefit from a "building year" as he seeks to recapture the form that has brought him three major titles.

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In a news conference, Spieth said: "I look back at last year as something that I think will be beneficial for me in the long run. I really believe that."

"I know that's an easy thing to say looking at kind of the positive in a negative, but there were tangible, mechanical things that I needed to address, and I was able to throughout the season."

"I feel like I'm free rolling this year. Just having an elongated perspective, a more patient view of things, helps free me up personally."

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Spieth insisted that his putting problems were predominantly due to technical issues, rather than mental frailties. "It's physical, it really is," he added.

"It's a discomfort in setup that takes away from commitment through the stroke. If you're not committed through the stroke you're not going to make putts."

"I wasn't sure exactly what it was and a lot of it was mechanical. A little bit of mental because of the mechanical, but when I'm kind of back into the same positioning, the same look, the same timing, same stroke feel that I've had for the last five or 10 years, minus a bit last season, then my confidence is probably as high as anybody's on the greens."

"[They were] certainly not ideal, last year's putting stats. But, [they were] necessary for elongated peak performance going forward. It was nice to sit back and kind of go through the checks and balances and fix what needs to be fixed."