American Ben Crane, seeking his sixth career PGA victory, sank a 14-foot birdie on his final hole to grab the halfway lead on 128 with a 63, but it was Spieth’s performance that raised eyebrows the most.
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World No.2 Spieth, who began coming to the Dallas event as a child, stood on 11-under 129 at TPC Four Seasons to share second place alongside Spain’s Sergio Garcia and USA compatriots Brooks Koepka and Bud Cauley.
Spieth dropped six shots in three holes as Danny Willett won the Masters in April, missing the cut at the Players Championship in his next outing.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) – Mika Miyazato had five birdies in a six-hole stretch and finished with a 6-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Kingsmill Championship. Spieth quelled some of the questions suffocating him about his Masters collapse by turning in seven birdies and just one bogey on a course he hasn’t had a lot of success on in recent seasons.
Koepka, meanwhile, posted a 64 following an opening round of 65, his best consecutive scores of the season, and they came in the wake of having broken 70 only once in his previous 17 rounds.
But he could only manage par for the closing eight holes after twice finding the rough in bogeying the par-four 10th.
“I was getting frustrated with these iron shots because it was like throwing darts out there and I was 40 feet away with an 8-iron”, Spieth said.
He started the second round on No. 10 and was even through 12 holes with two birdies and two bogeys. “I don’t know what it is”, Spieth said. “Had a couple of longer putts go in today and found both the par-fives in two to two-putt and tap in for those two birdies”.
“I’ve been struggling really for three years now, but intermittent bits of encouragement”, Crane said.
Spieth has hit 33 of 36 greens so far, and the only one he missed yesterday was No. 9, his final hole of the day. His only bogey Friday was a three-putt at the par-3 13th, the same as in his opening 64.
Defending champion Steven Bowditch, of Australia, watches his shot off the fifth tee during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament, Thursday, May 19, 2016, in Irving, Texas.
“The Irish Open is one of the most important tournaments of my year, and I’d dearly love to win it one day”, McIlroy said.
However, he bogeyed four of the next five holes with a birdie on No. 7.
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Top-ranked Lydia Ko closed with a birdie for a 73.
