Day outshines bogey man Spieth in Sydney
SYDNEY: Jason Day made a spectacular return to the Australian Open on Thursday, finishing the first round three shots off the lead as defending champion Jordan Spieth struggled in tricky conditions.
Day, playing his national open for the first time in four years, made the most of his early morning tee time, rolling in eight birdies in perfect sunshine for a superb round of five-under-par 66.
The former world number one finished the opening day tied for third place with Nick Cullen and Alex Edge, as Cameron Davis set the pace with a blistering round of 63 to lead by two strokes from Taylor Macdonald at The Australian Golf Club.
Spieth, playing in the afternoon when the wind had picked up, battled his way to an up-and-down round of one-under-par 70 to end the day seven shots off the pace on a heavily congested leaderboard.
Unable to build any momentum after making bogey at his first two holes, the American dropped three more shots but brightened up his card with six birdies, including a 20-foot putt at the final hole that fell into the cup. “I take a lot of pride in bounce-back stats – after a bad hole, coming back and making a birdie. I did that, but then I was on the other end of it,” Spieth said.
“I bogeyed just about every hole (after) I made a birdie. Fortunately, we finished on 18 with a birdie. I can’t bogey the 19th hole.”
Playing the back nine first, Day dropped a shot at the par-three 15th hole when he drove into the trees, then double- bogeyed the eighth hole, his second last.
But he was otherwise pleased with his performance as he chases his first Australian Open title in a rare outing in his homeland.
“I made a couple of mistakes out there with some swings, but made, I think, eight birdies, which was nice and finished at five-under, which is a good start to the week,” Day said.
“I think it would have been a little bit disappointing if I came out this morning and shot an evenpar round. I think it’s definitely out there to shoot a deep one. — AFP