After winning the Hero World Challenge Crown by ten shots past year, things are looking positive for Spieth to regain his title after a second round of 66.
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The grind is still there, Spieth said.
“Certainly when we’re on the golf course I’m definitely up there”.
Half of the field is within two shots of the lead, and every player but one finished under par on Thursday.
It was a calm and muggy afternoon in the islands and the winds were not strong enough, which reflected in the scoring.
Johnson, the 2013 Challenge champion, birdied three of the four par-three holes – the fifth, eighth and 17th – as well as the 10th, 11th, 15th and 16th.
Americans Patrick Reed and Chris Kirk each shot the day’s best round, a seven-under 65, to share fourth with Bubba Watson on 10-under 134 with England’s Paul Casey and Americans Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar sharing seventh on 136.
There were eight players tied for the lead at one point on Friday, but Haas was the only other one to remain there with impressive approach play seeing him join the world number one on 11 under for the two days.
The world No 1 was one over for the day after five holes, but he bounced back with three straight birdies before coming home in 32 to card a 66 and close on 11 under, a score later matched by fellow Americans Bill Haas and Jimmy Walker.
On the back nine, he took a bogey at 13, but responded with back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th, and closed with another birdie to stay on the leaders’ heels. “I believe I can get better certainly in different specific parts of my game and I can grow mentally as a player as well”.
SUN CITY, South Africa (AP) – Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and South Africa’s Jaco van Zyl shared the first-round lead in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at 6-under 66.
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Our own brand ambassador Anirban Lahiri opened with a steady 69 that had four birdies and one bogey and he may well have gone lower but for some unlucky bounces.
