McIlroy, Spieth start well
AKRON, Ohio Rory McIlroy had his best friend on the bag and his best start on American soil in 18 months. For Jordan Spieth, it was more of the same with two long putts and another comment filled with bravado directed at his caddie.
Both of them opened with a 3-under 67 at the Bridgestone Invitational, leaving them two shots behind Thomas Pieters of Belgium.
Pieters, playing only for the sixth time since he challenged briefly at the Masters this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on his final hole at Firestone to finish a day of good scoring with a one-shot lead over Russell Knox.
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., is three shots back after a 68 while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., struggled to a 4 over following a 74.
The opening two rounds were moved up to the morning because of a forecast of thunderstorms in the afternoon.
McIlroy split with J.P. Fitzgerald, his caddie of nine years, after the British Open. He decided to use Harry Diamond, who played amateur golf for Ireland and was the best man at McIlroy’s wedding, for the Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship next week.
It didn’t have much bearing on McIlroy’s game, which was fine. McIlroy won at Firestone the last time he played it in 2014.
“We both did the numbers and I sort of consulted him a couple of times. Yeah, it was good,” McIlroy said. “There was a couple of shots that I hit or a couple of clubs that I pulled that I maybe should have just thought a little bit more about. It’s been a while since I’ve paced yardages off and written notes in my book.”
Spieth has won two straight events going into this World Golf Championship with an eye toward next week at the PGA Championship and his shot at becoming the youngest player to complete the Grand Slam.
He got back into range of the lead with a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 5 and a 50-foot birdie putt on the next hole that got him to 3 under.
CHICAGO — Paul Goldschmidt hit his third long homer of the game to snap a ninth-inning tie, and Arizona pulled out a rain-delayed victory over Chicago.
Goldschmidt drove a 3-2 pitch from Wade Davis (2-1) deep into the right-centre bleachers with one out. J.D. Martinez followed with another