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SANDWICH, England – Jordan Spieth has been near the top of the rankings since February, so it makes sense that he occupies that position after his first round at the Open.
But Spieth wasn’t so sure that would be the case at Royal St. George’s. Due to a busy spring schedule, he chose to take time off after the US Open, a move he lamented heading into the Open on a course he had never played before.
That seemed to be of little concern on Thursday as Spieth opened the tournament with a score of 5 below par, 65.
“That was kind of my only concern, I think, coming here,” Spieth said after pulling off six birdies and a bogey to beat clubhouse frontman Louis Oosthuizen in one fell swoop. “I felt pretty good about the job I had been doing. The last, say, a week and a half or so. But when you haven’t played for a little while you come to a difficult track, you can have a bit of rust at first, and I was a little worried about it.
“I think halfway through the top nine today, running below par was just important to be like, ‘Hey, we’re in the thick of it. “There are just a few more nerves when you haven’t dated the week before, just to begin with. [I] had some really good shots early in the round today, which I think was important. “
After a bogey on the third hole, Spieth had four birdies in a row – starting with the fifth – and made the turn in 32. He added two more birdies on the last nine holes to shoot the seventh round of his career in the mountains. Sixties major championships – improved only by Tiger Woods (10), Jack Nicklaus (nine), Tom Watson (nine) and Dustin Johnson (eight).
On his last 13 laps in the majors, Spieth has four 65s and nine total laps in the 60s.
And despite all the angst over Spieth’s game in recent years, he still managed to be successful in the major championships.
Prior to winning the Valero Texas Open the week before the Masters this year, Spieth hadn’t won since the 2017 Open at the Royal Birkdale. He finished third at the 2018 Masters (after a bogey from the last hole when he needed a birdie to equalize), was the 54-hole co-leader at Carnoustie in 2018 (he did not birdie during of the final round and was tied for ninth) and tied for third at the 2019 PGA.
“I look back and have been lucky enough to win at least one of the majors every year when I felt like I didn’t know where the ball was going which could be bad and good,” Spieth said. . “Golf is a game played between the ears, right? When things don’t go well you can definitely lose a little confidence in her, and that was the first time that I had to really try to regain confidence. takes time.
“It’s a combination of obviously figuring things out mechanically, but also putting them to the test and mentally building up enough punch to go ahead and pull a few shots, and that’s how you build the trust, [by] using this improvement, I physically think about the course under pressure.
“I don’t feel like I’m where I want to be again mechanically by any means, but this year has been a very, very good progress for me, and that’s all I’m trying to do, it it’s just getting a little better every day. “
It was a solid day for Spieth. He hit nine of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 regulation greens and only needed 27 putts.
That’s pretty good for a guy who’s had so many cases of hitting the ball all over the place during his extended time away from the winner’s circle.
But since missing the cup at the Farmers Insurance Open, Spieth, 27, has changed his game. Starting from a tie for fourth at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Spieth has finished in the top-15 seven times in eight. tournaments, highlighted by his victory at Valero and a tie for third place at the Masters. After a tie for 30th place in the PGA Championship, he finished second in the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“I like where I am,” Spieth said. “Again, I feel like I’m making good progress. I really took a few steps back on the weekend at Colonial [Charles Schwab] through the US Open, and I know what it was now and tried to do a good job over the last few weeks to… convey it from where I was already progressing. “
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