Jordan Spieth Uses 9 Birdies to Take First Round Lead at the Masters

If not for a blunder at the par-5 15th, where Spieth’s tee shot left him perfectly positioned for no worse than a birdie but he wound up making bogey, he very well could have been the first player to shoot 62 at one of golf’s biggest events.

As it was, Spieth came up just short of the record, which is 63, but can’t complain about a three-shot lead heading to Friday.

Ernie Els, Justin Rose, Jason Day and Charley Hoffman all shot 67. Sergio Garcia and Russell Henley were another stroke back with 68s.

“To make nine birdies out there, that’s a dreamy round for me,” Spieth said. “It was a lot of fun.”

None of this should be a surprise. Not the way he was playing leading up to Augusta, having won, finished second, and lost in a playoff in his three previous tournaments. Not the way he played a year ago in his Masters debut, leading on Sunday before fading down the stretch to finish in a tie for second behind Bubba Watson.

Maybe it was the experience last time that kept from getting too worked up about his brilliant start. There’s an endless list of players who led a major after the opening round and were long gone by Sunday.

But it would be a huge surprise if Spieth fades away.

“I was leading last year at one point by a couple of shots on Sunday,” he recalled. “It didn’t go my way. I know how many things can happen in a major championship. I’ll try to learn from last year and stay patient these next three rounds.”

Spieth had just completed his round when Day finished off a run of five straight birdies at the 16th hole, pushing his score to 6 under. The Aussie bogeyed the 17th and settled for par at the tough closing hole, but had no complaints about the disappointing finish.

Tiger Woods has clearly improved during his time away from the PGA Tour.

He’s still got a lot of work to do before he’s ready to compete for his 15th major championship.

While plenty of players went low, Woods struggled to a 1-over 73 Thursday in the opening round of the Masters, failing to take advantage of the prime scoring conditions. There were plenty of promising shots – particularly in his short game – but a wild drive at No. 9 wound up in the adjacent first fairway, and he struck a pine tree with his second shot, leading to a bogey.

“Two dumb mistakes,” Woods said.

He also dumped one in Rae’s Creek on the picturesque 12th hole, leading to another bogey. And there were flashes of that notorious Tiger temper, whether it was swinging the club in anger or cursing himself for all to hear.

But Woods insisted the “only thing I really struggled with was the pace of the greens. I couldn’t believe they were as slow as they were.”

His short game has definitely improved since he walked off the course at Torrey Pines in early February, in such disarray that he found it difficult to pull off routine chips.

“That’s the strength of my game. That’s the way it should be,” Woods said. “That’s why I hit thousands and thousands of shots, so it’s my strength again.”