US Masters: Jordan Spieth takes instant command

A little after 9.30am, 90 minutes or so after Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus clacked their drives down the first fairway in the ceremonial opening, the 80th Masters really started. A quarter of the field was already out on the course, but it was only then that Jordan Spieth, the defending champion, came to the 1st tee. Spieth pulled his drive a little to the left, as he often has done this year. Then his second shot sailed way right, over and off the far side of the green from the pin. It was received in utter silence by the gallery crowding all around. But any budding inklings of doubt receded again as Spieth hit a dainty bump and run from 30 yards to two feet, to set up a simple putt for par.

In little more than an hour, Spieth was two under. In a little less than three, he was four under, and leading the field. And by the mid-afternoon, he was back in the clubhouse with a score of 66, six under, and three shots clear.

Early Thursday morning, Augusta is alive with possibility, and everyone abuzz with anticipation, all wondering how the story of the four days is going to play out. But by lunchtime, for all the glorious uncertainty of the first morning, it felt as though one thing had already become abundantly clear. Spieth is going to contend again. And anyone who wants to win is going to have to get by him. They will likely have a hell of a job doing it. All the talk about his modest form in the last few tournaments, the fatigue he must have been feeling after his long winter, it all meant nothing now that he was back at Augusta National, on the course he loves so much, and plays so well. Spieth has now played nine rounds in the Masters. The very worst of them was the 72 he shot on the Sunday in 2014.

Spieth picked up his first birdie at the 3rd, after a brilliant second shot from 95 yards out, which landed 15 feet past the pin but bit and spun viciously back towards the cup. He holed the putt from six feet. He made his next at the short downhill 6th, after a tee shot to 13 feet. He made the odd little mistake along the way, but they never seemed to cost him. A superb pitch got him up and down to save par at the 4th after he had left his first well short, in front of the bunker guarding the right side of the green. By then the sun had come out, and Spieth decided to take his jacket off. The ground had been sticky and the grass slick in the morning after the overnight storms. But now Augusta, like Spieth, was starting to hot up.

On the par-five 8th, which runs back up the hill towards the clubhouse, he hit his drive left again, into the first cut. That left him so close to the tree-line that it cut off the angle of his approach to the green. Spieth's playing partners, Paul Casey and the amateur Bryson DeChambeau were both over in the middle of the fairway, so able to hit their second shots to the fringe. Spieth did not have that option, so he went the other direction, into the crook of the dogleg that bends around towards the green. It left him 93 yards from the pin, more than twice the distance of either Casey or DeChambeau. But it was Spieth who walked off with a birdie, after he hit his approach to four feet. Casey fell short and DeChambeau bumped his over the back. Both scrambled back for par.

Casey, riding in Spieth’s wake, put together a fine round of his own. He was two under at the turn, one shot behind Spieth. DeChambeau, a curious soul dressed in baggy slacks and a flat cap, was one further back, and playing brilliantly well for a man making his Masters debut. Both Spieth and Casey made birdies at the 10th. Spieth was blessed by a kind bounce after hitting his tee shot left, again, into the trees, but then holed out from 11 feet. Casey had to make his from three times that distance. Coming back was rougher work. The wind got up, and Spieth had to scramble his way out of trouble at the 11th, 12th, and the 14th. Again, he had a little luck, his shot from the pine needles on the right of the 11th fairway skipped across the green and stopped just short of the steep bank down into Rae’s Creek. At the 12th he hit his tee shot over the back and up the bank. Again, there was a contrast with Casey. He dropped shots at both holes, while Spieth saved par. Both then picked up birdies at the par-five 13th.

Spieth saved par again on the 16th, when he had to chip back towards the water from 40 feet out. This time he made a 10-foot putt coming back. He celebrated it with a quick little pump of his fist. Spieth almost seemed more pleased that he had got around without a single bogey blemish on his scorecard. There was a final birdie on the 18th. It all felt very familiar after his performance here last year, when he led from the first day to the last. Ominously familiar, in truth, for everyone else in the field. His 66 was made with a little luck, a lot of sweat, even more skill.

“To be honest,” Spieth said afterwards, “I think my round today was even better than the 64 I shot on the first day last year.” He is going to take some stopping.

(Guardian service)