Jordan Spieth rebounds from slow Masters start

First-day leader Jordan Spieth started his round Friday scoring like a 15-handicapper on a weekly round with the fellas.

Spieth finished with the wisdom and skill he owns as the 2015 Masters Tournament champion and runner-up in 2014 and 2016.

Refusing to be rattled by a rough three-over par after two holes with a double bogey 6 at No 1, backed by a bogey on the par-5 second hole, Spieth rallied with a 2-under effort on the back nine to end the day 2-over par and 4-under overall at the midway mark of the tournament.

“I’ve taken a lot of punches on this golf course,” Spieth said. “So to come back from 3-over through two holes and only shoot 2-over with a limited number of looks, it’s not so bad. I’m still in this golf tournament.”

Friday’s windy conditions and quick greens challenged the entire field of 87 golfers, including Spieth, who McIlroy said “knows and loves this course.”

Spieth hit 7 of 14 fairways, 12 greens in regulation and took 33 putts compared to 24 on Thursday.

“I just had two really bad tee shots to start the day on the first two holes,” Spieth said. “Then the course was very difficult today.”

PHOTOS: Spieth's Second Round at Augusta

Spieth was seen on the tee box at No. 3 talking to himself and the personal pep talk helped steady his round with four straight pars.

“I told myself (on No.3 tee box) ‘this is an easy tee shot; you can’t screw this one up,’ ” Spieth said.

While he had another hiccup on the front nine with a bogey at No. 7, finding the front bunker on his second shot, his back nine 2-under left him a lot less frustrated.

Spieth took advantage of the par 5 Nos. 13 and 15 producing birdies, and his highlight of the back nine was his second shot into No. 15 off pine straw over water.

Spieth was 210 yards out and said he “ripped a 4-iron.”

“After I hit it when I was walking to the green, I was like ‘why didn’t I feel more scared over that shot?’ ” Spieth said. “Like why didn’t that shot bother me? I had a clean shot but I was looking straight into a tree.”

The Dallas native also knows he was able to salvage his bad start because of the remarkable patience he shows at age 24.

“Probably half and half, I’d say,” Spieth said when asked what percentage of his salvaged round was skill and what was talent. “I’m not going to downgrade my skill level but I’m also not going to downgrade my ability to fight back on this course.”

Spieth said shaking off his pedestrian start of 3-over par after two holes was a lesson he learned long ago about Augusta National.

“Par out here is a really good score,” Spieth said. “So what’s the first couple of holes on a Friday start mean? It doesn’t really mean much to me. It means let’s figure out what was wrong and fix it. But it’s not going to affect the outcome of this tournament off those two holes. I’m still in great position.”