Jordan Spieth at Memorial Tournament 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Score, Reaction
If Jordan Spieth wants to carry a two-tournament winning streak into the U.S. Open, he's going to have his work cut out for him the rest of the weekend.
Spieth carded a two-under 70 in Thursday's first round at the 2016 Memorial Tournament, putting him six back of leader Dustin Johnson. The world No. 2 is tied for 32nd place overall with a number of players still remaining on the course.
Playing partner Rory McIlroy sits one stroke behind Spieth in a tie for 54th. Both golfers played inconsistent rounds, with McIlroy interspersing the occasional befuddling hole with an otherwise solid round and Spieth struggling all day off the tee.
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| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 | |
| Score | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 35 | |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 70 |
Starting off the day on the back nine, Spieth's driver kept putting him in difficult save situations. He went from the fairway rough to the bunker on No. 10 before getting up-and-down, then wound up parring the relatively easy par-five 11th thanks to another poor drive. The issues off the tee caught up with him on No. 12, as his drive landed in the bunker, and he was unable to get himself in position to save par.
When Spieth found the fairway, though, good things usually happened. He got back to even par on No. 13 after crushing a 322-yard drive down the fairway and sinking an 18-footer for birdie. The par-five 15th allowed him to make the turn at one under, as he took advantage of the round's easiest hole despite going rough-bunker with his first two shots.
The PGA Tour offered a highlight:
Overall, Spieth was in the rough, intermediate rough or bunker on eight of his first nine tee shots. Things settled down as he went to play the front, but not before he coughed up another stroke on No. 1 after finding the bunker with his drive.
Sitting at even par, Spieth finally started to find his game on his last eight holes. He hit a fairway driver for the first time in seven holes at No. 2, then hit a solid approach within nine feet before knocking through the birdie. That was part of a streak of three straight good shots off the tee before Spieth found the rough again at No. 5.
Luckily, he chose the day's third-most forgiving hole to make a mistake. Spieth hit his second shot back on the fairway before putting a gorgeous approach within five feet of the cup, allowing him to birdie the par five. He got to a best of three-under on the round after birdieing another par five on No. 7, avoiding disaster after hitting his tee shot into the fairway bunker.
Somehow sitting in the top 20 despite a round full of struggles, the golf gods took a stroke back on No. 9 to finish his round at two under. A fairway drive set him up for a potential birdie, but he hit his approach in the greenside bunker and missed a nine-footer that would have saved par.
Outside of his putter, which remains red-hot after last week's Dean & Deluca Invitational win, Spieth was below tour average in nearly every major category. His driving accuracy was nearly 25 percent worse than the field's mean, per PGATour.com, leading to issues even getting the ball on the green in regulation. If it weren't for his putting, Spieth very well could have been facing the cut line Friday.
Instead, he still has an outside shot at pulling off another win. Spieth is only four strokes behind second-place Hudson Swafford. If Johnson falters in any of the three subsequent rounds, Spieth's in a far better position than it would seem on paper.
At the very least, he one-upped McIlroy in a round where he played mostly poor golf. That has to count for something.
Post-Round Reaction
Spieth offered his thoughts after the round, per Reuters: "I felt awesome on the greens. Just missed a lot of greens. I didn't have great control of the ball today, but I think it's close. My putter made up for it for the most part. To shoot one under on my front nine, the back nine, was by far the best that I could have possibly shot. So scoring well."
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