AUGUSTA, Ga. — Does the Masters begin on the 10th tee Sunday? Or when Jordan Spieth gets to the first tee Thursday?
The defending champ continued his one-man war on Masters suspense. He cruised to a bogey-free, 6-under-par 66 at Augusta National Golf Club and held a two-stroke lead after the first round.
Playing partner Paul Casey, who shot a 3-under 69, won’t be surprised if Spieth repeats, no matter how vigorous the wind is Friday and Saturday.
“It was great to have a front-row seat to watch that,” Casey said. “That was a flawless round of golf. When he got into trouble, something happened. It’s one of the toughest days I’ve ever seen here.”
Spieth said he hit the ball “average-ish” and that he “stole a few” strokes in posting his eighth under-par score in nine career Masters rounds.
As usual, Spieth’s putter set him apart. He made difficult par saves on the fourth, 11th and 16th holes and made three birdie putts that exceeded 10 feet.
“I would have signed up for 2-under-par today and not even played the round,” the 22-year-old Texan said. “I just scored the ball extremely well, which is something I’ve been struggling with all season.”
As Spieth surrendered the No. 1 spot in the world ranking to Jason Day, some have criticized him for traveling too much and for losing his edge. Spieth laughed at that, pointing out that he is playing more consistently than he did at this point last year and, after all, won the Kapalua event in January that gathers the previous year’s PGA Tour champions.
“I’m still trying to figure out why people think I’m struggling,” he said. “The toughest part is how to answer why you’re not finishing first every time. We’re fine. Everything’s been good.”
No one else could say that on a cool and blustery journey that brought several contenders into the light and then smashed them into the rocks.
Day shot a 5-under 31 on the front nine and, at one point, had posted his 25th birdie in a 35-hole stretch of par 5s in major tournaments. Then he 3-putted 15 for a bogey and hit his tee shot on 16 into the pond, prompting a triple-bogey 6. He wound up with a 5-over 41 coming in and an even-par score of 72.
“I’m not even frustrated,” Day said. “I hit some beautiful shots all day. I just have to work myself back into the golf tournament. But when you get yourself out of position in this golf course, it’s difficult to recover from that, and that’s what I did. Going out in 31 and coming in with 41, those are just numbers.”
Danny Lee, a former U.S. Amateur champion, and Irishman Shane Lowry are two strokes behind Spieth. Lowry birdied four of his first five holes but didn’t have a birdie beyond the eighth hole.
Casey was joined at 3-under by Justin Rose, Isan Poulter, Soren Kjeldsen and Sergio Garcia.
Phil Mickelson shot a 72. He pulled his second shot on No. 2; it bounced off a spectator’s wristwatch and into a bunker.
Rory McIlroy eagled 13 and birdied 14 to get to 4-under. But he bogeyed 16 and 18, retreating to a 2-under 70.
“I felt like I let a couple of shots get away there,” McIlroy said. “But if I can get off to a good start (Friday), maybe I can be off and running.”
