Spieth’s lucky gum has Open flavour
American signals intent with bogey-free 65 for share of lead after opening round
WITH the help of a lucky piece of chewing gum, Jordan Spieth breezed to an effortless five-under 65 to place himself firmly in contention at the Open Championship.
Prophets of doom predicted a brutal morning at Royal Birkdale but Spieth made light of their pessimism with a bogey-free, though not flawless, opening round to give himself a share of the lead alongside fellow Americans Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar.
Perhaps thrown out of kilter by preround nerves, Spieth ate breakfast after brushing his teeth so chomped on a single piece of mint gum for his entire round, reluctant to dispose of it in case it halted his fine play.
The American said: “I brushed my teeth and then I ate breakfast. And then I got out here and Cameron (McCormick, coach) offered me a piece of gum, I was one-under through two, and I thought I better keep it in and it’s still in now. It’s probably about time for a new piece. Payne Stewart used to do it and it served him well.”
The two-time Major champion is easy to read, and from the off there was an authority to his stride, the head was up with shoulders back and less postshot chuntering to both himself and his caddie.
So much is made of Spieth’s velvet touch around the greens and unerring precision on them, but yesterday it was his iron play that was the foundation of his play. Finding just five of 15 fairways, Spieth was still able to fire at flags from Birkdale’s wispy rough, rating his performance as among his best half-dozen in Major golf.
Spieth said: “It could be a lot more significant in three days’ time than I would consider it right now. I’d call it a top five probably, Major round that I’ve played, maybe fifth or sixth, something like that. There are scores that I’ve shot that were closer to par that were better given what I needed to do.”
The 2015 Masters champion spoke on Wednesday about wanting to see an improvement with the putter, and when his long-range effort at the first shaved the hole, it was clear he had the speed of Birkdale’s greens.
A birdie followed at the second after one of several well-judged approaches from the wispy rough, before a pair of threes at the eighth and ninth added further momentum.
UNBLEMISHED
The back nine affords a few more opportunities, but after picking up another shot at the par-three 14th he produced a superb save to keep his card unblemished.
Stuck in the back of a greenside pot-bunker at the 16th with an awkward stance, Spieth splashed out safely to the right of the pin and drained the par putt.
Intriguingly, the Texan highlighted changes to his diet may have played a part in his recent improvement.
“I’ve just been more focused on what I’m putting in my body,” said Spieth. “I’ll still go have a burger and a beer, but I think as a whole when I’m home I’m just trying to be – just trying to learn a little bit more about what’s best for me to be at my best.”
The leaderboard reads like a Ryder Cup singles showdown. While Spieth is joined at the top with US Open champion Koepka and Kuchar are setting the pace at five-under, they are being chased down by England’s Paul Casey and Ian Poulter just one and two shots behind respectively.
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, fought back from being five-over par after nine holes to finish one-over after three birdies in the final four holes. He’s only six behind the leaders.
His revival was sparked by his caddie JP Fitzgerald. “He said to me on the sixth tee, ‘You’re Rory McIlroy, what the f *** are you doing?’” McIlroy said. “I mumbled and said, ‘Whatever.’ But it helped. It kept me positive. So he did a great job.”
Casey afterwards promised an appropriate celebration if, in the week of his milestone 40th birthday, he could finally claim a Major title.
“I’ve always loved this tournament because my birthday has been on or around it and I love going to work on my birthday – I genuinely do,” Casey said. “There’s that old cliché about what happens at 40, so maybe this is a good omen. I’m not putting that much pressure on myself, but I’m very much wanting to win it. The odds are in my favour – seven first-time Major winners on the trot. So, yeah, it would be a hell of a party.”
Casey is thinking of a Lamborghini
as “a treat” to go with the Claret Jug, but this is early days. Even if he was not aware of some of the nightmare tales which unfolded here early on – most notably Mark O’Meara hitting the very first tee shot of this Open out of bounds on his way to an eight – he knows all about the perils of Royal Birkdale anyway.
When he arrived on the first tee, the memory of his last experience at Birkdale sprang instantly to mind. “In 2008, I shanked it out of bounds with a three-iron,” he said. “It was atrocious weather and I crouched down by the side of the bag, with my caddie Craig Connelly, thinking how on earth are we still playing? Surely somebody should blow a horn? Worst conditions I may have ever played in.” Open Championship, Live, Sky Sports, 6.30am