Koepka, Spieth, Kuchar tied for 1st

SOUTHPORT, England – A piece of mint gum and a check of the weather forecast got Jordan Spieth going in the first round of the 146th British Open.

The two-time major winner got off to a good start in search of the third leg of the career grand slam with a 5-under-par 65 at Royal Birkdale to grab a share of the early lead in the oldest championship in golf. In his first bogey-free round in the Open, Spieth made five birdies.

“Really good start. Everything was strong,” Spieth said. “I give it a nine across the board for everything – tee balls, ball-striking, short game and putting. So things are in check. It’s just about keeping it consistent.

“… I couldn’t have done much better today. I missed two greens. I think I missed three, but one of them I was putting from the fringe. So essentially missed two greens today in some 15mph winds. This course has a lot of crosswinds, so it’s tough to judge how far the ball is going to fly depending on

what shot you play. So that speaks a lot to the ballstriking of the day.”

On a pleasant day full of sunshine after morning clouds floated away, Spieth was atop the yellow scoreboards with Matt Kuchar and Brooks Koepka, the reigning U.S. Open champion. Koepka is trying to join Bobby Jones (twice), Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Open and British Open in the same season. Koepka holed a short bunker shot for eagle on the 17th and made just one bogey on the ancient links by the Irish Sea.

Spieth was well rested and confident when he arrived at this charming seaside village after a three-week break following his second win of the season in the Travelers Championship. While he put in a lot of long hours of