Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy play down potential showdown at Riviera

In terms of competitive advantage, Jordan Spieth has something over Rory McIlroy this week in the Northern Trust Open.

He knows and loves Riviera Country Club.

McIlroy is the guy ringing the doorbell, nervously awaiting that first date.

Spieth fell in love with Riviera before he turned pro because it was at the course in 2012 that he won a key match against another current pro, Justin Thomas, to help the Texas Longhorns win the NCAA championship.

In two pro starts at Riviera, Spieth has climbed the ladder, finishing tied for 12th in 2014 and tied for fourth last year, when James Hahn won in a three-man playoff. Spieth fell one stroke short of getting into the playoff.

“Love being here. Love being in the L.A. area,” Spieth, the world’s top-ranked player, said as he prepared for the tournament that starts Thursday.

“I’ve probably played this course close to 30 times now, which is a lot compared to other tournaments. It’s one of my favorites in the entire world. … It’s just in spectacular shape.”

McIlroy, who fell to No. 3 in the world this week behind Jason Day, is playing in his first tournament on the the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing. In his previous seven pro seasons, the Northern Irishman has been occupied with European Tour events in the Middle East.

This year happened to work out, McIIroy said, because he played in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago and had enough of a break to feel like he could comfortably make the trip.

Of course, he has watched tournaments at Riviera since he was a kid.

“If there was one that I had to pick to play out of this West Coast swing, it would be this, just because of what I’ve heard about the golf courses and the great things that the guys say about it,” McIlroy, 26, said.

“Excited to be here. Played the back nine yesterday and played all 18 today. It’s a great golf course. We don’t play golf courses like this very often anymore on tour. And it’s a real treat when you come to a golf course like this where it’s not overly long, you don’t have to really bomb it off the tee, but it’s real strategic.”

McIlroy did his homework. His research tells him that there were more three-foot putts missed in last year’s event than in any tournament on tour. That has everything to do with Riviera’s subtle breaks, as well as the inconsistent roll on the sometimes bumpy poa annua greens.

“I practiced back in Florida and putt over there, and then you get these greens and it’s completely different,” McIlroy said. “It’s poa versus Bermuda. So I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the putting green the last couple of days, just trying to sort of get comfortable with them.

“You hit 12 greens around here, you’ve done pretty well. So there will be a lot of those holing-out type of distances for pars that will be important.”

Spieth, 22, has established himself as the best long-distance putter on tour, though he didn’t fare well on the poa annua at Pebble Beach last week, not scoring impressively until a 66 on Sunday earned him a tie for 21st.

Asked what it would mean for him to win at Riviera, Spieth said, “for me to win on a golf course that I consider one of the top few in the world ... that’s always a goal. It would be pretty amazing.”

Spieth recounted how close he came last year, missing the green just short on his approach to the 18th on Sunday. Thinking he needed a birdie, he was too aggressive with his chip, blew it eight feet past the cup and made bogey when par would have put him in the playoff.

“A little bizarre,” Spieth said. “But that just kind of teaches you how it works. Sometimes it’s not birdies to win.”

Spieth and McIlroy have met only two times since the American won the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup in October, capping a season that included victories in the Masters and U.S. Open. The Irishman seized his third European Tour season title and won four times in 2015.

Spieth finished seventh and McIlroy was 11th in China in November, and McIlroy was third and Spieth fifth in Abu Dhabi.

Neither sees this week as a two-man show.

“The dynamic is different in golf,” McIlroy said. “If you were to just concentrate on that one guy, you’re doing a disservice to the rest of the field. Because in a field of this size and depth, there’s so many guys who can win.”