Spieth then started 2016 by shooting 30 under par to win the Hyundai Tournament of Champions by eight shots and believes he has already improved his game ahead of his debut in a regular European Tour event at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
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Spieth’s group-which included Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler-was told it was being monitored for slow play as it walked to fourth tee, which was the group’s 13th hole.
Either Spieth or McIlroy have occupied the No. 1 spot for 62 of the Past 66 weeks, winning four out of the last eight Major Championships together.
“For it to be the last putt when they are 15 minutes behind us and we’re off the hole, it didn’t make any sense to me”.
More details in the video. I read the putt from behind the hole, looked up and couldn’t even see the group behind us at the tee box.
Spieth, along with Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Rory McIlroy, had some fun in Abu Dhabi playing a round of speed golf in an event dubbed the “Rider Cup”.
The two bogeys came on the second and fifth holes, but the defending Masters and US Open champion seemed most frustrated by a missed birdie putt from four feet on the eighth hole, where he also received his time violation warning.
“It was a bit odd”, said the 22-year-old after signing for a four-under-par 68 to sit four shots behind the leader, compatriot and amateur Bryson DeChambeau. Stenson said. “Good course, good field, good practice, good hotel – how much should I keep going?”
“I would like to contend in a couple of majors on Sunday, and I’d like to win at least one of them”, Spieth said.
The American’s card was only spoiled by one bogey on the third, which was quickly rectified by two consecutive birdies, along with an eagle on the eighth, which set him on his way to his current one shot lead.
The competitiveness between the superstar trio started in earnest this week when they “raced” into Abu Dhabi and took part in the GolfBoarding “Rider Cup” challenge at the emirate’s ocean-front Saadiyat Beach Golf Club. It didn’t make any sense to me.
It was the first round since the European Tour modified its Pace of Play policy – and officials made an example of Spieth, the biggest name in golf.
Golfers on the European Tour have a new item of clothing to pack in their suitcases. American World No1 Jordan Spieth, a member of the PGA Tour, nearly sounded jealous when he said: “I did not get the memo today or I would not be wearing trousers right now”.
‘I understand the rule that if you are taking longer than the allotted time, you get a bad time.
“Trying to maintain my putting and maintain my short game statistics, and the way I drove the ball”.
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“But if I can drive the ball in the places that I was driving it in Kapalua and keep it in the short grass here, I feel very confident about my chances”.
