Spieth ends day where he started - on top

The day started with Jordan Spieth’s name at the top of the Masters Tournament leaderboards around Augusta National Golf Club, and that’s where it ended.

It’s a Masters tradition that the defending champion’s name is at the top of the leaderboards before play in the first round starts.

Spieth briefly lost the top perch when he parred the first two holes, but regained it with birdies on Nos. 8 and 10 and stayed there.

The world’s No. 2-ranked player shot a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 at a blustery Augusta National Golf Club and leads New Zealand’s Dan­ny Lee and Ireland’s Shane Lowry by two shots.

Five players are tied for fourth at 69: Englishmen Justin Rose, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, along with Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen.

Rory McIlroy, the world’s No. 3-ranked player, made bogey on the 18th hole and shot 70 along with three other players.

Jason Day, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, went the wrong way at the end of his round. Day, a winner of his past two starts, was one shot behind Spieth after 14 holes. But he made bogey on No. 15, triple bogey on No. 16 and bogey on No 17 to shoot 72.

“I know I can catch up,” said Day, who is trying to be the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to win here as the top-ranked player in the world. “I’ve just got to bear down and perform.”

Spieth shot 3-under-par 33s on both sides with birdies on Nos. 3, 6, 8, 10, 13 and 18.

“I’m just very pleased with it. I put it up there with one of the best rounds I’ve played; one of the best rounds I’ve scored,” Spieth said.

“It was absolutely flawless,” playing partner Paul Casey said of Spieth’s round. “It was great to have a front-row seat to watch.”

Casey is amazed that at such a young age the 22-year-old has “a knowing, it’s a confidence. It’s the way he walks. It’s the way he stands. It goes all the way through from the way he speaks and the way he shakes your hand and the way he deals
with people, as well. It’s wonderful.”

While Spieth has seven PGA Tour wins, Lee, 25, has one. Lee is playing in his second Masters and his first since 2009, when he shot 74-81 as the U.S. Amateur champion and missed the cut.

“I’m having a blast,” Lee said.

Lowry is also playing in his second Masters. He missed the cut last year.

“I am here since last Saturday,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of golf here this week, and I do feel really comfortable around the place. It’s a bit intimidating driving in the gates, driving in the gates of Magnolia Lane to play the Masters. It was last year.”

Spieth, seeking to become the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters, is 24-under in his past five rounds here. He has also led or shared 10 consecutive nine-hole segments. He’s the first player to lead five consecutive rounds in the Masters.

Spieth said Tuesday that he didn’t enjoy bringing his green jacket back to the club, where it stays unless he is the current champion. At this rate, it looks as though he might be taking it back to Dallas with him.

“We just stay patient with what we’re doing,” Spieth said. “We know how to win this golf tournament, and we believe in our process, and if the putts are dropping, then hopefully it goes our way.”

Spieth, who lost his No. 1 ranking to Day on March 28, wasn’t as hot entering this year’s Masters as he was last year, when he’d won or finished second in his previous three tournaments. This year, he won the Tournament of Champions in January, but his best finish since then has been a tie for ninth. In taking the “glass half-full” approach, Spieth is puzzled that no one mentions he’s been outside the top 21 in standings only once since he won in January.

“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out why people think I’ve been struggling,” he said. “The toughest part is how to answer on why you’re not finishing first every time. We’re fine. Everything’s been good. I told everyone the last two weeks that it’s coming around, we’re putting in the right work. We’re just waiting for the scores and they are finally coming out. I feel like my game’s been trending in the right direction. I just haven’t gotten scores out of how I felt I’d been playing that normally just comes down to putting. I certainly made a lot of putts today.”

Spieth ended up with 25 putts, which impressed his other playing partner, amateur Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 72 with 31 putts.

“He loves the greens,” DeChambeau said. “We were walking up 18, and he said, ‘I don’t know what it is about this place, I just love putting here. I can see the break, I can see the lines.’ I was quite impressed with that.”

“He hit a shot into the green and I knew his was a good shot by the clapping,” Spieth said of DeChambeau. “I knew it was the right tier. So I said, ‘Good shot.’ And he goes, ‘It’s no Jordan Spieth.’”

“I was thoroughly impressed with how he controlled his putts in the wind,” DeChambeau said. “That’s one thing I kind of struggle with, and I hope I can be a little bit better tomorrow at that, understanding how much wind is going to affect a putt. That’s what he did a great job of today.”

With a wind whipping 12-18 mph and gusts of 26 mph, according to Augusta National, the average score Thursday was 74.090.

“It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever seen around Augusta National,” Casey said. “Although I think we got let off the hook with the rain last night, it still was incredibly tough.”

“A lot of times it felt like 50 miles an hour,” said Lee, who said at least the greens were softer than normal because of the overnight rain. “Lot of gusts. I just tried to focus on my routine and I did a good job of that today.”

Spieth opened with 64 last year on his way to the wire-to-wire victory.

“To be honest, the round today was better than the first one last year because of the conditions,” he said. “I got the most I could possibly get out of my round today.”

Players should get used to the wind. It is predicted to be between 12-18 mph with gusts of 25 mph this afternoon, when Spieth will be playing. He tees off at 12:55 p.m.