Fortune favours Spieth as Texan finally hits form
ARE we about to witness the awakening of Jordan Spieth at the Genesis Open? He’s certainly been in a slumber for far too long, falling to his worst world ranking position for six years.
In his last 17 tournaments, would you believe, the man who won three majors in his first three years on tour has mustered just one top 10 — and even that was one to forget, as he blew up on the final day of the Open at Carnoustie after being tied for the lead at the start of play.
On Thursday morning, it looked like more of the same from the Texan. His opening tee shot was a wild hook that ended in an unplayable lie. Two minutes later, the hooter sounded to suspend play. Spieth’s exasperated look said it all, as he trudged back to the clubhouse.
Then came a lucky break. Officials deemed the conditions to have been unfair, and so when play finally resumed seven hours later, the earlier action was declared void.
‘I went from cart path to junk. Then we got to restart the round, so from being unfortunate I went to feeling very fortunate,’ he said.
The good vibes continued over the opening holes, as he chipped in a couple of times, once for birdie and another to preserve a par.
Then the real Spieth started to emerge. The ball started coming out of the middle of the club. He seemed to grow a couple of inches.
By the time he finished the 12 holes he played before darkness fell, he’d moved to five under par to share the lead overnight.
It’s easy to lose momentum when a round is spread over two days, but Spieth looked like a three-time major winner once more yesterday. ‘It’s the best I’ve struck the ball in quite a while,’ he said.
‘If five under for the first 12 holes was more than I deserved, playing my final six in two under was about the worst I could have scored.’
He wasn’t about to complain. It all added up to a marvellous 64, and a two-shot lead over fellow American Tony Finau from the players in his side of the draw.
Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Casey had to settle for more prosaic rounds of 70. For the former, it continues a slow start to the season in comparison to the last couple of years, when he’d already won an event by now.
‘It’s a change to be thinking about making the cut each week, but I see no reason for concern,’ said Fleetwood.
‘It just feels like one of those periods where I need to remain patient.’
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were back on the course last night for the second round after Woods shot a one-under 70 in the first, with McIlroy carding a one-over 72. Waterford’s Seamus Power also signed for a 70 in the first round.
SKY Sports will show all four majors this year after they announced they had reclaimed the rights to the US PGA Championship.