One of the game’s best young talents almost had the best opening round in Masters history Thursday.
After coming within a few holes of winning the tournament in his first appearance last year, Jordan Spieth may already be planning what shirt goes with a green jacket after shooting an 8-under 64.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “I’d take three more of them.”
Spieth came within a shot of tying Greg Norman’s record for the lowest opening round in Masters history. Instead, the 21-year-old will have to settle for being the tournament’s youngest 18-hole leader.
It was a display of power, touch and luck when Spieth thought he missed a birdie putt on 12 that did roll in, when a wayward drive on 13 hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway and when his approach on 14 hit the flag, saving it from bouncing off the green. Those bits of fortune led to his nine birdies, none of which were longer than 20 feet.
“When you’re getting good breaks, the easiest thing to do is just to be OK and laugh them off,” he said. “The hardest thing to do is grind and try and take advantage of them and pick that next shot or that next putt that’s going to take advantage and turn that into a birdie. That’s what we did a really good job of today.”
Spieth, who will tee off at 9:57 a.m. Friday in the second round, is three shots ahead of the field.
Sitting at 5 under, Spieth put his tee shot on the 12th to within 10 feet. Perhaps not knowing what kind of roll he was on, he acted as if he thought he missed the birdie putt, but the ball stayed true and dropped in to move him to 6 under.
He pushed his drive right on the par-5 13th, but the ball ricocheted off a pine tree and back into the fairway. After laying up, Spieth delicately placed his wedge shot to within a few feet. He caressed in the birdie putt to reach 7 under.
He appeared in trouble after again pushing his drive to the right on the 14th, but his 7-iron approach made a beeline for the flag, hitting it and stopping less than three away. He calmly hit the birdie putt to reach 8 under.
With the reachable par-5 15th coming up, Spieth had a chance to at least match the record for the lowest opening round in Masters history set by Norman when he shot 9-under 63 in 1996.
Spieth hammered his drive down 15, setting up an eagle opportunity — and record breaker — if he could reach the green with his next shot. He more than reached the green, he flew it, almost putting his shot in the pond on the 16th hole. He said he selected a hybrid and should have used a 4-iron. His pitch barely reached the green, and he walked off with a bogey to fall back to 7 under.
He rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on 18 to reach 8 under and put the field on notice.
“I need to play some really, really good golf, and I need to hit my driver and I need to hit my irons better than I did today to have a chance to win this week,” he said. “So I’m not planning on looking at scoreboards at this point. I’m playing just to play these holes as solid as I can, and you know, if I can get the breaks I got today, then great.”
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