Rain or shine, Spieth likes his chances

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jordan Spieth thinks he still has this.

His first-round lead was gone almost before he finished breakfast. Patrick Reed and Marc Leishman threatened to stampede him and everyone else down Washington Road. Spieth at one point went 12 holes without a birdie.

But he’s five shots down at the midway point of the 82nd Masters. He has hope. Things could have been worse.

“In contention at the Masters is nothing new to me,” the 2016 Masters champion said. “And therefore, I won’t be extremely anxious, I don’t think.”

Though Spieth was directing that remark to how inclement weather might affect Saturday play, he also spun that to his advantage. Though forecasting for the region has been off and on this week, the area faces an 80 percent chance of showers Saturday with accumulations of onehalf to three-quarters inch and wind gusts of up to 20 mph. Spieth likes that, too. “Obviously, it becomes a technical golf course when the conditions get tougher and you’re presented with kind of tough breaks like that,” he said. “And I think that’s an advantage for me. I feel like I tactically play this course very well.”

The only reason he could keep up the bravado was his ability to bounce back from a 6-6 start (double bogey, bogey) Friday morning and still shoot a 74, placing him at 4-under par after 36 holes. There is some history. In 2012, he was 3 under and trailed by four at the halfway mark and wound up runner-up.

“So what’s a couple of holes on a Friday start mean?” he asked. “It really doesn’t mean much to me. It means let’s figure out what’s wrong and fix it. But it’s not going to affect the outcome of this tournament off of those two holes. I’m still in great position.”

His early trouble came off two toed shots, which he attributed to “squatting” through his swing, a tendency that his caused some problems during his uneven winter. His opening drive made the rough on the right, where he had to punch out. He made the front edge of the green in three but three-putted, missing his bogey putt from two feet. He drove left in the pine straw on the par-5 second hole and then managed a hard hook with a 4-iron recovery shot that barely got him out of the trees. But he was able to reach the front edge of the green and three-putted his way to his 6 when it might have been worse. But his twoshot first-round lead was gone.

“I’ve taken a lot of punches on this golf course and in tournaments in general,” he said. “I told (caddie) Michael (Greller), ‘Look, when this course plays tough, I’m good for a double here or some bogeys there. Let’s make these the only ones.’ “