Jordan Spieth at PGA Championship 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Score and Reaction

Jordan Spieth kicked off the year's final major in much the same way he has fared in the previous three, as he ended the first 18 holes at the 2016 PGA Championship at even par Thursday.

This continued Spieth's inconsistent trend in 2016. He hasn't been bad overall, owning two victories, but in 13 major rounds, the 23-year-old has finished over par five times and nearly added a sixth before two late birdies saved him Thursday.

Spieth has some ground to make up over the next three days.

Jimmy Walker ended his day with the lead after firing a five-under 65 in the first round. 

Here's the leaderboard from Baltusrol Golf Club:

Spieth's score wasn't great Thursday, but he did not play a bad round of golf. He bounced back well after a double bogey on the seventh hole. He was hitting pars with regularity, so getting to even par felt like a win for him.

His best hole of the day was the par-three 16th, where he nailed his first birdie to get back to one over par.

PGA.com provided the video:

That was a big spot for Spieth, both to build confidence and, per ESPN's Chris Fallica, to continue his streak of 55 consecutive major rounds with at least one birdie. He nailed a five-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to get back to even par.

Putting is Spieth's greatest strength on the golf course, so if he doesn't have that working, it can get out of hand in a hurry. Justin Ray of the Golf Channel noted he only made just two of eight putts from between 10-20 feet.  He was able to salvage something Thursday, but this was a round for him to put out of his mind to focus on the next day.

Mike McAllister of the PGA Tour's official website noted how well Spieth's entire group finished Thursday:

ESPN.com's Jason Sobel humorously noted how much Spieth's performance would have helped him earlier this summer:

It's been that kind of season, at least during the majors. Spieth's biggest problem of the round was driving, particularly finding the fairway off the tee.

Per the PGA Tour's official website, Spieth's driving-accuracy percentage was 42.9, though he did make up for it by hitting 77.8 percent of his greens in regulation, culminating in those two birdies on the final three holes. 

Fallica tweeted out a key stat that helped explain why Spieth has stopped contending for majors this year after dominating the PGA Tour in 2015:

Even though Spieth's accuracy off the tee could signal a problem with his swing, Dan Jenkins of Golf Digest had a more practical solution:

There is always a rush when a great player struggles to make some dramatic change to his or her game. Tiger Woods was constantly altering his swing, which led to Paul Azinger saying during an ESPN conference call (via Golf.com) that Woods had "actually gotten a little bit worse.''

This was in 2014, before Woods' body had broken down. Azinger noted in the same call that Jack Nicklaus "might have made some tweaks and twerks here and there," but it wasn't a complete overhaul of what made him successful.

Spieth hasn't bottomed out, nor is he in danger of doing so; thus, there is no need to overhaul his game. Something is slightly off, like he's been turned three degrees off the optimal temperature. 

Trying to spin the conversation in a positive direction, Justin Ray of Golf Channel noted success in the first round at the PGA Championship has not guaranteed success Sunday:

Recent trends favor getting off to a good start, though. In 2014, Rory McIlroy was tied for fourth after the first round, and Jason Day was tied for third last year en route to capturing the championship. 

Spieth has had a feast-or-famine relationship with the PGA Championship in his career. He missed the cut in 2013 and 2014 before finishing second last year, three shots behind Day. His run in 2015 opened with a 71 before he went 67-65-68 in the final three rounds. 

Thursday isn't going to be the defining round for Spieth at the 2016 PGA Championship. His ability to compartmentalize has served him well and will determine how high he climbs over the remainder of the tournament.

Post-Round Reaction

Spieth didn't use the heavy wind gusts as an excuse for his score, instead focusing on what happened on the greens and not executing simple shots he usually makes, via Golfweeks' Alex Miceli:

Golf is a sport built on momentum and confidence. The two work hand in hand and Spieth found a little bit of both on Thursday.