The stress-free environs of the Monday before a Major were evident at Royal Birkdale as players indulged in a new pastime to bouncing golf balls on the baked fairways and playing catch, repeating the exercise time and time again as if barely able to believe their eyes.It confirmed the concrete-like hardness of the scorched earth, conjuring up memories from almost a decade ago, Jordan Spieth with a smile on his face when his improbable escapology en route to to the Claret Jug in 2017 was mentioned.Remember his drive on the 13th that was so wild he finished up on the practice ground? He was allowed relief and ultimately managed to walk away with an unlikely bogey that prompted a closing stretch which saw him birdie the 14th and then eagle the 15th, birdie the 16th and 17th, and par the last to win.That sequence of bogey-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie was what made Spieth so special, a cavalier approach with a huge self-belief that carried him to a third Major championship, adding to his US Masters and US Open wins of 2015. Since then, however, he has been unable to complete the career Grand Slam at the US PGA, or add another Major to his tally.Spieth hasn’t won on tour since the Heritage in 2022 – his 13th success on the PGA Tour – and, currently 51st on the official world rankings, hasn’t managed a top-10 finish since last year’s Memorial tournament almost 14 months ago.But the self-belief remains that the former world number one can climb back to those great heights.Spieth won the Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Photograph: David Davies/PA “I’m quite frustrated with the results, considering I know where my game is at. It’s better than it was four or five years ago when I got back to top-10 in the world. It’s without a doubt better than it was then; it’s just not quite showing up in results,” he said of his recent form.“At the same time, it’s a stay-the-course mentality, and sometimes stuff like that is delayed. Sometimes you get rewarded right away, like I did back then, maybe in a bit of a lucky fashion, and I understand that sometimes it’s delayed. That’s how it feels like it is right now. Knowing me, when the lid pops off the hole, I feel like I can go on a run about as hot as anybody can run. I’m just waiting for that opportunity.”He skipped the Genesis Scottish Open to arrive in England early, taking in nearby links at Formby as well as getting reacquainted with Birkdale. “Winning The Open Championship was a significant highlight of my life,” Spieth said. “It’s arguably the best tournament in the world and the greatest trophy in the world to attain, and the most worldly golf tournament in the world. So, on the list of goals, it was right up there at the top.”At 32, his belief in his own ability is evident. “I feel better than my results have shown. (There’s) a mix of reasons why, but there’s a really good opportunity this week to believe that, trust that. The more difficult the venue, it requires me to really dial-in mentally a little bit more, which I think is going to be a good thing.“Then being able to handle whatever comes your way on a difficult Major venue and kind of react a bit less. It should be a really good opportunity this week ... I feel like I have a lot of great golf in front of me. I feel like I’m way more optimistic than I’ve been at a lot of different points in my career.”Spieth has made the cut in all three Majors so far this year without truly contending: tied-12th at the Masters, tied-18th at the US PGA and tied-56th at the US Open. A timely return to the mix at Royal Birkdale would be fitting.