Jordan Spieth opened with a solid three-under-par 67 on day one of the Dean & DeLuca Invitational at Colonial Country Club to sit in a tie for ninth place.
‘I’m very pleased with three-under today. I felt like we kept it on the correct sides to keep it very stress free. I had a couple shorter length putts that I could have made, but I also made a couple mid-rangers. All in all, I think the score reflects about how played, and that was very solid this afternoon,’ he said.
The 22-year-old was in one of the feature groups of the day and he started with birdies at the first and second.
‘I hit a really good drive on one and found myself with no swing. When you feel like you hit a good one, you expect to be able to go for it in two. I didn’t play a smart shot at all, but a good putt sometimes makes up for a couple misses.’ he said.
‘I played the second well, got a good break off the tee, got a decent lie in the right rough and hit a nice, solid putt, so we were rolling. Felt like I hit good putts all day, You don’t want to have to be making par saves to stay at even, one-over-par, two-over-par. It was nice to be a couple under early’
He was pegged back by a bogey at the fourth before making birdie at the ninth to turn in two-under-par.
The Texan native had a more sedate back nine, where he picked up a birdie at the 11th before rolling in seven consecutive pars to sign for 67.
‘That was a solid round of golf given the conditions this afternoon. Extremely pleased with somewhat boring golf. It was so tough to gauge the wind correctly and get the ball close to the hole. On a day like today, you’re just really looking to hit greens in regulation,’ he said.
His playing partners Charl Schwartzel and Matt Kuchar found it a little bit more difficult as both struggled to break par. The 2011 Masters champion signed for a one-over-par 71, while Kuchar signed for three-over-par 73.
The lead South African after the first round is Tyrone van Aswegen who fired a one-under-par 69.
