SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- According to the calendar, Jordan Spieth's two third-place finishes to start 2017 weren't all that long ago.

But to Spieth, they're disappearing in the rearview mirror.

With two weeks off since the Sony Open, Spieth is preparing for the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Thursday with his focus on fine-tuning his short game.

In two starts so far in 2017 on the PGA Tour, Jordan Spieth has finished third and tied for third heading into this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open. Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

It would be the next step toward polishing his overall game, which he described as "pretty good" just a month into the year.

"In Hawaii, struck the ball extremely well," Spieth said. "Tee to green, improved on what I was trying to improve on from all of 2016 and really back into '15, same kind of moves I was trying to do.

"I'm trying to continue to strike it that same way while putting a little more emphasis on repetitions throughout my short game, which I had lacked a little bit of trying to emphasize my long-game gains."

Spieth enters the Phoenix Open with a 66.7 percent save rate on up-and-downs from 10 to 20 yards, but has made all four of his attempts inside 10 yards. But when he's on the green, Spieth has been dangerous, ranking fifth in putting average with 1.7 putts per hole. Spieth said the TPC Scottsdale greens felt "very pure."

"If you're putting well, you can really putt well out there," he said. "It's not Poa annua."

That means this could be the week his game evens out.

Spieth is first on tour in hitting greens in regulation, at 84.7 percent of the time with an average drive of 296.1 yards.

If he can get his short game to match his long game, Spieth said this could be the tournament he can race out to a fast start.

"I'm looking forward to putting it to the test," Spieth said. "I feel like I have some things I have to adjust a little maybe throughout the week, hopefully minor enough that give me a really good feeling to get off to a good start because I didn't get off to great starts the last couple of events in Hawaii and had to back-door my way into the finishes.

"I'd like to jump out a little more aggressive."

With Thursday acting as Spieth's mainland U.S. debut this year, his body will be better prepared to begin handling the grind of the season because he has eliminated most of the international travel that bogged down his schedule last year. From October 2015 to February 2016, Spieth played in South Korea, China, Australia, the Bahamas, Abu Dhabi and Singapore -- with a trip to Hawaii thrown in.

He learned his lesson. Sort of. Spieth still went to Japan and South Korea for an Under Armour appearance in January. He was in Japan, South Korea, Alaska and Dallas all in the same day.

"Still less travel than last year," he quipped.

Spieth played in the Australian Open in late November -- which he won -- and then in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December before playing in back-to-back tournaments in Hawaii. He then took two weeks off before heading to Scottsdale.

It's too early to see the benefits of a reduced travel schedule, Spieth said. Ask him in two weeks or when he heads to Mexico for the World Golf Championship tournament the first weekend of March, and he'll have a better idea. But he believes he'll benefit from it in the long run.

"I think it's going to help for the entirety of the year," Spieth said. "Plus, each year I have figured out how to save strength and recover better, how to train, take days off. [I'm] just starting to improve on all that just by knowing when I start to feel fatigue."