Barclays Golf 2015: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Thursday

The leaderboard after Thursday's first round at The Barclays features an intriguing mix of FedEx Cup bubble men, a couple of rising stars and an in-form, two-time major champion tied with three others at the top.

Bubba Watson went out in the morning wave and fired a five-under 65 to grab a share of the lead with Camilo Villegas, Spencer Levin and late-afternoon charger Tony Finau. The quartet is ahead of past major winner Jason Dufner, young stud Danny Lee and four others by only one stroke.

Playing alongside PGA Championship winner Jason Day and newly minted world No. 1 Jordan Spieth and starting on the back nine, Watson birdied his first two holes and added three more to post a bogey-free 31 at the turn.

The PGA Tour showed Watson converting a birdie putt at No. 18 and alluded to how he managed to only par both par-fives, despite his incredible length off the tee:

Birdies at Nos. 3 and 4 got Watson as low as seven-under, but dropped shots at the par-three sixth and his last hole prevented him from taking first place by himself.

PGA Tour Media suggested few should be surprised that Watson is in such a favorable position after 18 holes at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey:

Day didn't show any signs of a letdown coming off his major victory, posting a solid two-under 68 with three birdies against just one bogey despite dealing with a back injury.

In stark contrast to Watson and Day, Spieth crashed and burned to a 74, which included a six-over 40 on his last nine holes. That's not a hyperbolic description to use for Spieth, considering he's the FedEx Cup leader and just finished second in pursuit of the Wanamaker Trophy and third major of the year.

It looked like business as usual when Spieth jarred a mid-range birdie putt at the par-five 16th from below the hole to get to two-under for the day. Then everything unraveled.

In documenting the damage done, No Laying Up poked some fun at Spieth's rare stretch of poor play:

Spieth fans can take solace in the fact that the 22-year-old prodigy has a tendency to rebound from bad starts to tournaments. He leads the PGA Tour with a 68.5 second-round scoring average.

Out of even his worst beginnings this season, Spieth has manufactured decent results more often than not, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info:

"

Jordan Spieth finished the day 4-over par and 9 off the lead, his worst score to par in a PGA Tour event this season pic.twitter.com/6zBrKdslOi

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 27, 2015"

Mental toughness is a standout attribute that's allowed him to succeed at such a young age. When Spieth was asked after Thursday's performance what he needs, he seemed keen to draw on his resolve for Round 2, per ESPN.com's Jason Sobel:

"

Do what I've done best -- bounce back. I'll come back tomorrow strong. I'm not a big fan of the course. It doesn't fit me very well particularly, but I've also won on courses that I didn't think fit me very well. So I know I can still shoot a low round if I hit the shots that I need to hit, that I'm trying to hit. Just hopefully see a few more putts go in.

"

It was surprising to see Spieth find so much trouble considering he hit 11 of 14 fairways in regulation. He also called the round a "fluke" and evidently has plans to move forward in swift fashion.

Other notables who struggled in the first round but were in excellent form prior to the FedEx Cup playoffs were Brooks Koepka (72), Justin Rose (77) and David Lingmerth (78).

Hunter Martin/Getty Images

Only the top 125 in the FedEx Cup points standings were eligible for The Barclays. Levin and Villegas were 115th and 123rd, respectively, but they suddenly find themselves right in the thick of the postseason picture, albeit at an early stage in the opening leg.

Just last week, Levin was on the precipice of perhaps returning to Qualifying School to regain his tour card. To ensure his FedEx Cup bid, he fired a 63 in the final round of the Wyndham Championship to finish tied for 18th and has carried that over to The Barclays in a big way.

"It's kind of nice I didn't feel so much pressure as last week. I felt kind of relieved," said Levin, per GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard. "This is a nice stress to have. It's a lot better than having to go back to Q-School."

Villegas revitalized his career around this time last year. The former No. 7 player in the world won the 2014 Wyndham to surge into the playoffs. The talented Colombian certainly seems to save his best for last:

This could be another instance of Villegas seizing late-year momentum to go on another run.

But the primary man to watch for now and the future is Finau. Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune weighed in on Finau following Thursday's action:

Just 25 years old, the PGA Tour rookie bombed the ball on Thursday for an average of 336 yards. He overcame adversity when he bogeyed three straight right after birdieing his opening three holes.

The mistakes went away for Finau as he birdied five of his last 11 holes, including another run of three at No.s 17, 18 and 1. Coming off a top-10 finish at the PGA Championship, he has all the makings of a breakout star.

Finau still has not won on the PGA Tour, though. He's shown signs but must do better on the greens to stay in contention; Finau entered The Barclays ranked 127th in strokes gained from putting.