Spieth hoping rest pays off

Jordan Spieth is confident the decision to limit his playing schedule towards the end of the year will benefit him in 2017.

The American enjoyed a stellar 2015 campaign, winning both the Masters and the US Open before taking the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup title.

However, after continuing to play throughout much of the winter, he failed to ignite to the same degree this year, and seemingly struggled to recover from his back-nine collapse at Augusta in April.

Although he won May’s Dean & DeLuca Championship, his best finish in the majors following his Masters showing was a tie for 13th at the US PGA Championship.

Spieth has now started to plan for next season and has already confirmed he will play in next week’s Australian Open and December’s Hero World Challenge.

However, the 23-year-old’s schedule will otherwise be lighter than this year, with him not due to travel to Asia as much in a bid keep himself fresh after being affected by fatigue in recent months.

The world number five has not played since the Ryder Cup and feels giving himself more time away from the course will be of benefit.

“I just wanted an off-season. I needed some time off,” he told Golf.com. “We’ll just see how it goes from there (after Australia and the Hero World Challenge in December). “I might do more, but I want to take it slow and see what happens.

I don’t need (the travel). I didn’t miss it at all.” Spieth currently leads the betting for the 2017 Masters alongside Jason Day at 8.50, with Rory McIlroy 9.00 and Dustin Johnson 11.00.