His final-round 63 previous year was a record for the revamped Jack Nicklaus-designed layout, which was being played as a par-71 for the first time.
Advertisement
“It was tough out there playing guessing with the side winds”, said Spieth. “Conditions were tough but I still could have found the fairways”.
Another former major victor in the field, Geoff Ogilvy, might have hoped the winds would rattle Scott more than they did, but the 38-year-old South Australian showed enough on Thursday to suggest he would be up for the fight, even with Scott at his best.
Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy has thrown away an early lead in the first round of the Australian Open golf championship in Sydney.
It was actually the second double bogey on the ninth hole that became a massive turning point, with the 2013 US Masters champion chipping in from off the green to limit the damage he feared could be irreversible.
Defending champion Spieth broke even with a 71, which left him with a share of 19th on a day when only 18 players finished below par. “You can use the same club but there could be 30 yards difference in the air based on whether you hold it up or you ride it”.
The top-ranked Spieth birdied his opening hole and bogeyed his last to go along with birdies on a pair of par-5s and bogeys on two par-3s.
“I’m not surprised”, he said when asked that very question.
“I played here previous year and had a couple of good first two rounds but before this, I’ve always loved this course”, Tighe said.
Tighe has managed to graduate to the Final Stage of Web.Com Tour qualifying and has taken advantage of other starts where possible in order to get him prepared for what lies ahead. “I’m just getting more and more comfortable playing in the bigger tournaments”.
“I know I can carry a lot of the bunkers off the tee”.
But he could only settle for even par after dropping a shot on the tricky par four ninth, his last hole of the day.
“I had some really tough up-and-downs but managed to salvage par”, he said.
“A lot of people are going to spin back into the water there. Especially when it gets the southerly (winds) this afternoon”. There were only two birdies on the hole by mid-afternoon, 53 pars, 46 bogeys and seven double bogeys.
“To have something this windy it’s been a while”, Spieth said.
Advertisement
Champions Tour regular Peter Senior, who won last week’s Australian Masters at Huntingdale in Melbourne, shot 80.
