TORONTO – You can’t win the Masters on Thursday, but Jordan Spieth demonstrated why he was an early favourite for golf’s first major of the year.
Spieth, 21, playing in his second Masters, blistered the golf course with nine birdies and a solitary bogey. Playing aggressively, Spieth fired at flags that golfers are supposed to be afraid of, with a misstep on the par 5 15th as his only significant mistake of the day.
He finished 8-under par, three shots ahead of a pack of golfers that includes U.S. Open winner, and perennial Masters pick, Justin Rose, big hitting Australian Jason Day and multiple major winner Ernie Els, who at 45 is old enough to be Spieth’s father.
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Spieth’s remarkable opening round came one shot short of the course record, held by Greg Norman and Nick Price.
The fourth-ranked player in the world, Spieth entered the tournament red hot, with eight Top 10 finishes in his last 10 starts, including two wins and two second-place showings. When Spieth said he was “pleased,” with how his round went, it may have been the understatement of the year.
“That was one of the best rounds I’ve ever played,” he said. “I carried a lot of momentum into the week.”
It is said that winning the Masters requires a lot of experience, but Spieth played like someone many years his senior with plenty of years at Augusta under his belt. He joked after his round that his playing partner, Billy Horschel, said he needed a tape player that said, “Good hole, Jordan.”
Spieth was aware that, with the exception of World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, he might have been the favourite heading into the tournament, especially after finishing second in his debut at the Masters last year. Dealing with that pressure is something he’s becoming accustomed to.
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“I certainly thought about what I was expecting coming in,” said Spieth. “Obviously everyone wants to win this golf tournament. It leaves your name in history and a legacy and the hardest thing to do is to put that behind you when you start on the first hole.”
Now he faces one of the great challenges in golf—following up a great round with another one. Spieth says he learned a great deal from finishing behind Bubba Watson last year.
“It is hard to sleep on a lead here—I saw that last year—but at the same time I’m a lot more confident in the way that I can handle certain situations and the patience level I can have,” he said. “It is tough to bring expectations down and have a free flow out there. But we did a good job of it today and I’m going to try to bring the same mental attitude in the next couple of days.”
Spieth isn’t the only one dealing with pressure, though what Els faces is more than a decade old. Els, one of the game’s legends, has several near misses at Augusta but never managed to capture a green jacket. At the 2004 Masters he battled Phil Mickelson, finishing second, and admitted that he struggled with the result, playing poorly in the ensuing years.
“You get fed up with yourself—not Augusta,” said Els.
Coming into the tournament much of the attention was on Tiger Woods, returning from injury, and McIlroy, who is trying to win the only major championship that has eluded him. McIlroy played an up-and-down round, with three birdies against a couple of bogeys. McIlroy finished at 1-under, tied for 18th place.
Woods, faced with some sloppy shots, somehow managed to finish at 1-over 73, in 41st place.
The Canadians didn’t fare well in the first round. Mike Weir, struggling with an arm injury for much of the year, was wayward off the tee throughout the round, shooting 10-over par 82. Canadian amateur Corey Conners, playing in his first Masters after coming in runner-up at last year’s U.S. Amateur, didn’t fare much better, carding an 80.
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