Jordan Spieth at BMW Championship 2015: Thursday Leaderboard Score, Reaction

An ace helped spark a leaderboard charge from Jordan Spieth during Thursday's opening round of the BMW Championship. He finished the day at five under par, leaving him five strokes behind leader Jason Day.

Both Spieth and Day played 17 holes before the round was suspended because of rain. Play will resume Friday at 7:30 a.m. CT, per the PGA Tour.

Although it's just a single round, it was a highly encouraging day for the two-time major winner after some uncharacteristically poor outings in the first two playoff events. He struck the ball purely and took advantage of scoring opportunities.

Let's check out how his first round played out at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, followed by a look at the leaderboard and a recap of Spieth's day.

Round 1 Scorecard

Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Total
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
Par	4	3	4	4	5	4	4	3	5	36
Score	4	3	5	3	5	5	4	3	4	36
Overall	E	E	+1	E	E	+1	+1	+1	E	-
Par	4	3	4	4	4	3	4	5	4	35
Score	4	1	3	3	4	3	3	5
Overall	E	-2	-3	-4	-4	-4	-5	-5		-

Tournament Leaderboard

Day 1 Recap

Spieth entered the tournament having missed consecutive cuts for the first time in his PGA Tour career at The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship. His play during those four rounds lacked the polish of his outstanding performances at this year's majors.

The 22-year-old sensation finished among the top five in all four of golf's biggest events, including wins at the Masters and the U.S. Open. Coming into the BMW Championship, he admitted that there are times when things don't go right, but he remains upbeat, per Bob Harig of ESPN.com.

"You're going to have two bad days in a row every now and then," Spieth said. "It was rare to miss, to have those four rounds in a row [at the Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship]. I feel very confident about where I'm at right at this second. I rested a lot. I got a lot of work in this past week, took some time off."

Even with those recent struggles, Spieth entered the season's penultimate event in second place with a golden opportunity to capture the FedEx Cup championship.

While the Texas native could only manage to post an even par on the back nine—he started on the 10th—there were signs of improvement. His approach shots were more accurate in the early going, which allowed him to start attacking greens aggressively.

His start wasn't without a few issues, though. Most notably, he couldn't get a handle on the speed of the greens, as stats from Mike McAllister of PGATour.com illustrated:

Spieth also had some sporadic problems with his driver. That prompted Jason Sobel of ESPN.com to post a message that sounded like something associated with Tiger Woods this season:

So how do you jump-start a round when the putter is cold and the driver is a little off? With a hole-in-one, of course.

Spieth hit a 7-iron into the par-three second hole and, after being a little unsure during the flight about whether it had enough distance, watched it roll into the cup. It was exactly the type of spark he needed after some middling play through 10 holes.

The highlight-reel shot accounted for his second ace on tour, as Justin Ray of Golf Channel noted:

Spieth later joked that he was disappointed the ace didn't come with a special prize, per McAllister:

He kept his putter in the bag to warm up for a little longer, too. His approach from the right rough came up short on the third, leaving a delicate pitch with a slope to manage. He handled it perfectly, chipping it in for birdie.

He followed that with a more Spieth-like hole on the fourth. He found the fairway off the tee with a 355-yard laser, his approach landed within five feet and he easily rolled it home for his fourth dropped stroke in a three-hole stretch.

Sean Martin of PGATour.com recapped the brilliant run:

Spieth added another birdie on the seventh and advanced to the ninth fairway before the horn blew to signal a weather delay. The PGA Tour confirmed the stop in the action:

While he would have liked to finish the round without the stoppage, at least it didn't arrive during his hot streak.

Now the question is whether Spieth can back it up with another strong round Friday. There were plenty of reasons for optimism throughout the opening round, but he has some issues to iron out if he's going to chase down Day this week.

That said, while Spieth would obviously like to add another victory to his resume, the most important thing is fine-tuning his game ahead of the Tour Championship next week. He's trending in the right direction again.

Now he must build off it.