Spieth sniffing lead despite early triple

Rallies with six consecutive birdies; world’s top three players struggle

The RBC Heritage began two months later than usual with a little rain, a little sunshine and a lot of birdies, most of them from Jordan Spieth to turn a rough start into a furious finish.

Ian Poulter holed a 30-foot birdie putt and followed with a 5-iron to 4 feet for a birdie that closed out his round of 7-under 64, giving him a share of the lead Thursday with Mark Hubbard at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

“I’ve always loved coming here to play golf,” Poulter said.

The RBC Heritage, typically played a week after the Masters in April, is the second tournament since the PGA Tour resumed its season in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The top three players in the world are playing — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas — and none broke par on a day in which 66 players in the 151man field shot in the 60s at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Spieth, who started on No. 10, wouldn’t have guessed he would be one of them. His tee shot on the 12th was 5 yards right of the fairway, hit a tree and didn’t stop rolling until it was out of bounds. He made triple bogey and was 3 over through three holes.

“All of a sudden, I’m 3 over through three, and you start to see guys going 2 under through two, 2 under through three early,” Spieth said. “It’s not a great feeling.”

Determined to at least try to get under par for his round, Spieth had a careerbest six consecutive birdies for a 29 on his back nine. He finished with seven birdies over his last eight holes and shot 66.

Poulter and Hubbard, who started birdie-eagle, were a shot ahead of a group that included Webb Simpson, Ryan Palmer and Viktor Hovland. Colonial winner Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Ernie Els and that incredible bulk, Bryson DeChambeau, were in the large group at 67.

DeChambeau, who added some 40 pounds of mass to increase his swing speed, was hammering shots over the range during practice earlier in the week. He had to tone it down on the tight, tree-lined course.

“I couldn’t unleash the kraken today,” DeChambeau said, a student of physics and Scandinavian folklore. “It was just too tight out there. The wind was swirling all day, and I couldn’t feel comfortable to give it a good whack, but I was still able to manage keeping it mostly in the fairway.”

Dustin Johnson was poised to make a move until he hit into the water on the par-3 14th and compounding the error with a threeputt triple bogey. He still managed a 68.

No tickets were sold for the tournament, but there were spectators. Harbour Town is lined with vacation homes, villas and townhouses, and plenty of people spilled onto their decks and into their yards to watch.