Spieth one shot back at Colonial after 65
FORT WORTH — If Jordan Spieth is going to end a victory drought that is approaching two years, the three-time major winner picked a good place to give himself a chance.
Spieth opened with a 5-under-par 65 at Colonial Country Club on Thursday in his second Texas homecoming in three weeks — coming off his best finish of the season at the PGA Championship — and trailed Tony Finau by one shot. Roger Sloan joined Spieth in the tie for second.
Back when he was collecting trophies regularly three years ago, Spieth won on the cozy course made famous by Ben Hogan, and that was between a pair of secondplace finishes in Fort Worth. So when it comes to feeling good about his game, Spieth is in the right place, just a few miles from his hometown of Dallas.
But the former Texas Longhorn didn’t necessarily have to be here, a week after tying for third at the PGA for his first top 20 this season.
“I didn’t put it above or below any other week,” said Spieth, whose last victory was the 2017 British Open. “I know my game has been progressing. I’ve been saying that for the last month or six weeks or so. Results just end up coming when I actually start playing better golf. Simply put, that’s just what I’ve been doing.”
Defending champion Justin Rose, the highestranked player in the field at No. 3, shot 74 with four bogeys on the back nine.
The other four players from the top 10 in the field also were over par — No. 7 Francesco Molinari (71), eighth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau (72), No. 9 Xander Schauffele (76) and 10th-ranked Rickie Fowler (74).
J.J. Henry, who played in college for Colonial neighbor TCU, and twotime Colonial runner-up Jason Dufner were among nine at 67.