Spieth-Palmer team shares lead
Jordan Spieth showed off his stellar short game. Ryan Palmer contributed momentum-saving par putts. They turned out to be quite the team Thursday in the Zurich Classic near New Orleans, the first official team event on the PGA Tour in 36 years.
Spieth hit a bump-andrun from 100 feet to a front pin to set up birdie on the par-5 11th, chipped in for birdie on the 14th and closed out their foursomes round with a 15-foot birdie for a 6-under-par 66 to share the lead with 18year-old Ryan Ruffels and Kyle Stanley. Nick Watney made a 60-foot eagle putt from well off the green at the par-5 18th as he and Charley Hoffman were among four teams at 67.
Even in the tough alternate-shot format, benign conditions at the TPC Louisiana allowed for good scoring with 43 of the 80 teams breaking par, and 18 teams in the 60s.
“Alternate-shot format with these conditions, anything 3-under or so was a solid score,” Spieth said. “Grab a few extra and be in pole position , it’s fantastic. We’re just going to try to have as much fun as we had today.”
Jason Day and Rickie Fowler shot 71. Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, the gold and silver medalists at the Olympics last summer, opened with a 72.
The cut will be made after Friday fourballs to the top 35 teams and ties. The winners each will get credit for a PGA Tour victory, just as it was at the Walt Disney World National Team Championship in 1981, the most recent official team event. LPGA Tour: Lexi Thompson shot a 2-under 69 in her first LPGA Tour round since a rules violation cost her a likely victory in the first major tournament of the year April 2, leaving her four strokes behind leader M.J. Hur in the North Texas LPGA Shootout in Irving.
Hur had a bogey-free 65 on a blustery, sunny day at Las Colinas Country Club. Ariya Jutanugarn and Michelle Wie were a stroke back. European Tour: France’s Alexander Levy shot a 9-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the China Open in Beijing.