Spieth second at Bridgestone

AKRON, Ohio — Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy opened with a 3-under 67s at the Bridgestone Invitational, leaving them two shots behind Thomas Pieters of Belgium.

Pieters, playing only for the sixth time since he challenged briefly at the Masters this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on his final hole at Firestone to finish a day of good scoring with a one-shot lead over Russell Knox.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, is three shots back after a 68 while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., struggled to a 4 over.

The opening two rounds were moved up to the morning because of a forecast of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Replacing his long-time caddy with his best friend didn’t have much bearing on McIlroy’s game, which was fine. McIlroy won at Firestone the last time he played it in 2014.

“We both did the numbers and I sort of consulted him a couple of times. Yeah, it was good,” McIlroy said.

Spieth has no such concerns, having won two straight events going into this World Golf Championship with an eye toward next week at the PGA Championship and his shot at becoming the youngest player to complete the Grand Slam.

The opening round was no place to lose ground in such good scoring conditions. Dustin Johnson did his part with a 68. He hasn’t won since the Match Play just two weeks before his staircase injury that knocked him out of the Masters.

Johnson only wants to give himself a chance to win, and he says all the parts are in working order for that.

Bubba Watson, also showing signs of getting his game turned around, was also in the group at 67 that included Kevin Kisner and Jon Rahm.