Spieth in tie for lead at Open
American shoots five-under 65 with Koepka and Kuchar, Thongchai five back after first round
>> SOUTHPORT: Jordan Spieth produced one of his best major championship efforts to take a share of the lead alongside fellow Americans Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar after the first round of the British Open.
The trio all shot five-under-par rounds of 65 at Royal Birkdale on Thursday and hold a collective onestroke lead over Paul Casey and South African former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.
It is extremely tight at the top of the leaderboard, with those players who missed some unpleasant weather coming in off the Irish Sea early in the morning succeeding in shooting low scores.
But some of Spieth’s big-name rivals were left trailing, with Rory McIlroy and world No.1 Dustin Johnson both one over par for their rounds.
Spieth, the world No.3, avoided the grim early-morning conditions on the Southport links as he went out with reigning champion Henrik Stenson and promptly fired a flawless round featuring five birdies and not a single dropped shot.
“I couldn’t have done much better today,” admitted the Texan, even if he agonisingly failed to convert a putt for birdie at 18.
“Everything was strong. I thought I’d 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.”
Winner of both the Masters and US Open in 2015, Spieth had failed to break par in his last five opening rounds at a major before coming to the north-west English coast this week.
Koepka, fresh from a month off after winning his first major at the US Open, was one-under at the turn before a bumpy ride on the way home.
That saw the 27-year-old birdie three holes in a row from the 11th, bogey 16 and then eagle the par-five 17th in sensational fashion as he holed out from a bunker.
A victory for either man this week would end the recent run of seven consecutive majors going to firsttime major winners. But Kuchar could extend that sequence.
The giant 39-year-old had five birdies in his first nine holes as he went out in just 29. He didn’t drop a shot all day.
Meanwhile, McIlroy, the 2014 Open winner at Hoylake, remains bullish about his prospects after recovering well from a horrendous start to his day.
The Northern Irishman was fiveover after bogeying five of the first six holes. But he hit back with four birdies on the way home.
“It was nice to see the putt on 18 go in and close out today with something really positive,” he said.
COLLATED FIRST ROUND SCORES
(Par-70, GBR/IRL unless stated, a denotes
amateur)
65 — Brooks Koepka (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA)
66 — Paul Casey, Charl Schwartzel (RSA)
67 — Richard Bland, Charley Hoffman (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Ian Poulter, Austin Connelly (CAN), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP)
68 — Richie Ramsay, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Alex Noren (SWE), Joost Luiten (NED), Stuart Manley, Kang Sung-Hoon (KOR), Ernie Els (RSA), David Lipsky (USA), James Hahn (USA), Martin Laird, Daniel Berger (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Kevin Na (USA), Kent Bulle (USA)
69 — Jason Day (AUS), Andrew Johnston, Adam Scott (AUS), Robert Streb (USA), Aaron Baddeley (AUS), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Matthew Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters (BEL), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Jon Rahm (ESP), Marc Leishman (AUS), Xander Schauffele (USA), Andrew Dodt (AUS), Li Haotong (CHN)
70 — Steve Stricker (USA), Ross Fisher, Toby Tree, Gary Woodland (USA), Branden Grace (RSA), Brian Harman (USA), Kim Si-Woo (KOR), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Tony Finau (USA), Andy Sullivan, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Russell Henley (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA), Matthew Griffin (AUS), Paul Lawrie, Yusaku Miyazato (JPN), Kyle Stanley (USA), Laurie Canter
71 — Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Shaun Norris (RSA), Adam Hadwin (CAN), Danny Willett, Jamie Lovemark (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Bill Haas (USA), Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler (USA), a-Alfie Plant, Chris Wood, Darren Fichardt (RSA), J.B. Holmes (USA), Chang Yi-Keun (KOR), Song Young-Han (KOR), Alexander Levy (FRA), Yuta Ikeda (JPN), Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson (USA), Lee Westwood, Scott Hend (AUS)
72 — Joseph Dean, Martin Kaymer (GER), Tom Lehman (USA), Matthew Southgate, Peter Uihlein (USA), Chan Kim (USA), David Drysdale, Sean O’Hair (USA), Shane Lowry, Jimmy Walker (USA), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP)
73 — Shiv Kapur (IND), KT Kim (KOR), Jason Dufner (USA), Brandon Stone (RSA), Michael Hendry (NZL), Sergio Garcia (ESP), a-Connor Syme, Dylan Frittelli (RSA), Anirban Lahiri (IND), Padraig Harrington, Kevin Chappell (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Kim Gi-Whan (KOR), Haydn McCullen
74 — Pat Perez (USA), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), Ryan Fox (NZL), Callum Shinkwin, Charles Howell III (USA), John Daly (USA), Phachara Khongwatmai (THA), Cameron Smith (AUS), Julian Suri (USA), Wesley Bryan (USA), Russell Knox, Ryan Moore (USA), Paul Waring, Nick McCarthy, Sebastian Munoz (COL)
75 — Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Zach Johnson (USA), Alexander Bjork (SWE), David Horsey, Darren Clarke, a-Luca Cianchetti (ITA), Paul
Broadhurst, Adam Bland (AUS), Tyrrell Hatton, Jhonattan Vegas (VEN), Mark Foster, Ashley Hall (AUS)
76 — Brendan Steele (USA), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Tommy Fleetwood, Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Roberto Castro (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Jbe Kruger (RSA), Ryan McCarthy (AUS)
77 — Robert Dinwiddie, An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Stewart Cink (USA), William McGirt (USA), Hideto Tanihara (JPN), a-Harry Ellis, Wang Jeung-hun (KOR), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Sandy Lyle
78 — a-Maverick McNealy (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
79 — Todd Hamilton (USA), David Duval (USA) 80 — Adam Hodkinson
81 — Mark O’Meara (USA)