And it showed. In ideal scoring conditions, Day didn’t make a birdie until the ninth hole and made only two on the back nine for a 70.
Advertisement
Patrick Reed’s Tournament of Champions title defence got off to the flawless start on Thursday, with the 2015 victor earning a one-stroke lead in Hawaii.
Spieth and Reed sat on six-under heading into the 18th hole which Reed eagled after sinking a 16-foot putt.
One shot further back in third position are Brandt Snedeker, JB Holmes and New Zealand’s Danny Lee.
Lee played an impressive 36 events last year, making the cut in 24 of them, but plans on reducing the number of tournaments he enters with the added luxury of automatic entries to the biggest events of the year.
Most of the attention was on Spieth, coming off a blockbuster year that included two majors.
“For whatever reason it is, whether we want to feed off each other or we want to beat the crap out of each other, we somehow play well together”, Spieth said. The 22-year-old had three birdies on the front nine and four on the back. “He’ll probably shoot another 15 [under], so I better get going tomorrow, the way he plays”. Two birdies and an eagle at the par-five fifth courtesy of a 28-foot eagle putt saw the American take the turn in 32.
‘It was a similar round to yesterday, ‘ he said.
He then dropped his first shot of the day at the tenth before sandwiching a double-bogey at the par-4 16th with birdies at the 15th and 17th. Johnson had the longest drive on six of the holes, including three of them just short of 400 yards.
Now sitting tied for 17th on four-over, Forrest is a shot ahead of compatriot Connor Syme after the Drumoig player carded a one-over 73. “You just have to know putts”.
Rickie Fowler, whose breakthrough 2015 featured a win in the Players, had six birdies in a round of 67 to get to 10-under and tied for sixth.
AT&T Pro-Am commitments: Justin Rose, the No. 7-ranked player the world, and Reed, ranked No. 10, have confirmed they are playing in the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on February 11-14, pushing the total number of players from the top-10 list to six.
Advertisement
NEW year, same Jordan Spieth, the world No. 1 pulling away with a blistering round at the Tournament of Champions on a day where Australia’s Jason Day simply couldn’t keep up.
