Spieth upbeat as his late birdie blitz saves the day

IN THE preamble to the Houston Open, Jordan Spieth declared he was looking for a 64 or 65 to fire him up for the Masters next week. It certainly did not happen yesterday. But an encouraging finish of three straight birdies did rescue a four-under par 68 from the clutches of something far more prosaic, and left him in a positive mood. ‘I’ve been working very hard and started to see some reward,’ said the 24-year-old. ‘It was a 68 that felt more like a 66 to me, given how I struck the ball.’ The only downside was a recurrence of the mysterious malaise on the greens that has left him as virtually the only big name without a victory this season. He has not even been close, if truth be told. How could he be when he is currently a lowly 172nd in strokes gained in putting? The man who looked like he had done a deal with the devil on the greens is presently just another sufferer who has succumbed to the black art. The Open champion (below) started well enough, with two birdies in the first four holes, before moving to three under at his 10th hole, the first on the card. Just as he was making a decent leap forward came one in the opposite direction. At the third he stood over one of those putts in the eight to 10 feet range that have been troubling him all season — and missed it comfortably. At the next hole he had the same length putt again — and missed that one as well. At that stage, he was hurtling down the leaderboard before showing his class over the closing stretch. All three birdies came as a result of wonderful iron shots — and great iron play is a prerequisite at Augusta. Spieth stood three shots off the early first-round pace set by Lucas Glover and Kevin Tway, son of former USPGA Champion Bob Tway. Padraig Harrington gave his mum Breda something to celebrate on her birthday with a 67, his best of the season. Harrington, now 46, is one of many needing to win to trigger a last-minute Masters invitation and came up with typically bewildering take on the prospect. ‘If I win here it means I could win the Masters and that’s the only way I’d want to go there,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to go there and make up the numbers, which is what I would be doing if I didn’t win here.’ As for his mother, he kept mum about her age. ‘I’d have to stay over here if you published

that,’ he said.