Jordan Spieth Leads British Open After First Round

Print

Published on July 17 2015 6:17 am
Last Updated on July 17 2015 6:19 am

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- A six-hour time-zone difference, a lack of Old Course knowledge and considerable Grand Slam hype didn't bother Jordan Spieth on Thursday during the opening round of The Open.

Nothing seems to bother Spieth, who won the John Deere Classic on Sunday and the first two majors, the Masters and U.S. Open, of 2015.

Spieth shot 5-under-par 67 -- he curled in a 15-footer for birdie at the 18th -- in his first competitive round at the Old Course, which yielded an abundance of low scores in benign conditions during the opening round.

"It was certainly nice to finish that way,'' Spieth said. "I hit a drive that would have been in big, big trouble on any other hole. Luckily it was the 18th at St. Andrews. Got a good number. I walked the entire thing off. It was like 92 yards.

"I walked to the green because we weren't sure from that angle how far we had. To see that putt go in was nice. To steal the one back from 17 [where he made bogey] and to shoot even par on the back nine, which -- once you turn into that breeze -- is a good score."

Dustin Johnson, who finished second to Spieth by a shot when he three-putted the final green at the U.S. Open last month, opened with a 7-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead.