Spieth (74) nine back as playoffs begin
The start of the FedEx Cup playoffs brought out the worst score from Jordan Spieth in three months.
In his first tournament as No. 1 in the world, Spieth had a pair of three-putt bogeys, hit a tee shot in the water, shot 40 on his back nine and wound up with a four-overpar 74 in the opening round of the Barclays at Edison, N.J. It was his highest score since a 75 in the Players Championship, the last time he missed a cut.
“Just lost a little bit of focus,” Spieth said. “All in all, I’m just going to take today as a fluke round. I still believe I’m playing well. It just happened to be an off day on a day where it counted.”
Bubba Watson and Tony Finau powered their way around Plainfield Country Club and each had a fiveunder 65. They were in a four-way tie for the lead that included Spencer Levin and Camilo Villegas, players who are in dire need of a good week.
Villegas got into the top 125 to qualify for the playoffs last week at the Wyndham Championship, with two shots to spare. Levin secured his spot in the playoffs with a 63 in the final round at the Wyndham, moving up seven spots to No. 115. Like Villegas, he felt relieved to have made it to the Barclays, and everything else is gravy. He rolled in three early birdies and dropped only one shot on a mild, blustery day.
With two majors among his four wins, and nine topthree finishes this year, Spieth is No. 1 in the FedEx Cup and virtually assured of getting to the finale at East Lake with a clear shot at the $10-million bonus. He can afford an off week or three. He just didn’t like it.
Playing alongside Watson and Jason Day — the top three in the FedEx Cup — Spieth didn’t miss a fairway on the back nine and was two under at the turn, three shots behind Watson. Then it all went bad, his round ending with a three-putt bogey.
Spieth could lose the No. 1 ranking to Rory McIlroy, who is not playing this week as a precaution coming off an ankle injury. The next step for Spieth?
“Do what I’ve done best — bounce back,” he said. “I come back strong tomorrow. I’m not a big fan of the course. It doesn’t fit me very well, particularly, but I’ve also won on courses that I didn’t think fit me very well. So I know I can still shoot a low round if I hit the shots that I need to hit, that I’m trying to hit.
“Typically when I hit the fairways, I’m not over par. And that’s what was weird about the round.”
Paul Casey and Jason Dufner were in the large group at 66. Day, who had pulled out of the pro-am after tweaking his back, joined Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in the group at 68.
Lang leads in Alabama
Brittany Lang birdied five of the first seven holes in windy conditions and shot a seven-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic at Prattville, Ala.
Added to the U.S. Solheim Cup team Monday as one of Juli Inkster’s two captain’s picks, Lang had a twostroke lead over Tiffany Joh, Sydnee Michaels and Ryann O’Toole.
“It was just one of those days. It was so enjoyable,” Lang said. “I wasn’t thinking about a whole lot. I was just super committed to seeing my shots.”