CROMWELL, Conn. – Standing in the rain behind the clubhouse at TPC River Highlands on Friday, Jordan Spieth seemed a little lost.

Following rounds of 73-69, Spieth was wrapping up an early exit from the Travelers Championship, where he missed a cut for the first time since March.

“I mean, just no parts of my game were where I wanted them to be,” he said.

In spite of wayward ballstriking, Spieth had been finding ways to score in recent weeks, putting up three straight top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge and Memorial.

But even he was willing to admit Friday those finishes were smoke and mirrors.

“The results from the other week were strictly really putting,” he said. “It was putting and chipping. I still hit the ball below average for the field those weeks; [I] just made up for it.

“I just really need to improve on my ball striking.”

Spieth this year is 197^th on Tour in driving accuracy and 172^nd in greens in regulation. If he wasn’t seventh in in strokes gained: putting, his already-well-publicized struggles would be attracting even more attention.

After racking up 14 worldwide wins, including three majors, in his first five years as a pro, he is mired in a nearly two-year drought, dating back to the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale.

Spieth has spent much of that time fighting his golf swing. He’s been optimistic at times that he’s heading in the right direction, but the dynamic he described Friday sounded the same as it has for over a year.

“The things I've been working on are so drastic that it's just really difficult to try and play through it, I guess,” he said.

He anticipates grinding hard on his game ahead of The Open, but isn’t sure whether he’ll play again before the year’s final major.

“I may or may not play the John Deere,” he said. “I'm kind of up in in the air right now. I’m not sure.”

But he is sure of what he needs to work on.

“I need to gain significant control of the golf ball tee to green,” he said. “Fortunately, now I’ve got time to just do reps and overdo the reps and pull the string back together to get the clubs set and tracking right where it's been when I've been the best in the world tee to green.

“So it'll just take time. Just like the putting did last year, and then it came around. You know, it's just a little off and I need to get it back.”