Jordan Spieth Battles Back to 1-over Par at PGA Championship 2018 on Thursday

Jordan Spieth was stuck in neutral for most of Thursday's first round in the 2018 PGA Championship en route to a one-over 71 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.

Spieth started in ominous fashion with a double bogey on the opening hole. He recovered from the early setback with birdies on Nos. 7 and 15, but he could never get on the prolonged hot streak he needed to make a serious charge up the leaderboard. A bogey on the 17th caused him to finish the day in black numbers.

The round left him seven strokes behind the lead pace being set by Gary Woodland with the afternoon wave of play ongoing in the season's final major tournament.

Spieth has struggled since finishing third at the Masters in April.

He's recorded just one top-20 finish in his nine starts since leaving Augusta, a tied-for-ninth-place result in The Open Championship last month, and has missed three cuts over that span.

So the 25-year-old Dallas native didn't generate quite as much attention heading into the PGA Championship, especially compared to last year when he arrived as the British Open champion, but he's still looking to complete the career Grand Slam this week.

"I'm a little under the radar this year, and I don't mind it," Spieth told reporters Tuesday. "But at the same time, this tournament will always be circled until hopefully I win it one day."

Spieth hit 57.1 percent of the fairways, found 55.5 percent of the greens in regulation and couldn't make enough mid- to long-range putts to make up for the mundane play from tee to green.

Like Tiger Woods earlier in the day, the eighth-ranked golfer in the world will be happy the round didn't get away from him after a poor start. But he's now facing an uphill battle to put himself in contention.

Here's a look at some of his highlights from Thursday's action:

Spieth's quest to move closer to the leaders begins Friday at 9:12 a.m. ET, when he kicks off the second round alongside playing partners Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.

This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.

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