Jordan Spieth endured a topsy-turvy start to The Players Championship on Thursday, collecting two eagles, two birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey — and that was just over his first nine holes.
Spieth added one more birdie and a bogey over his final nine holes to finish at 2-under-par 70 on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
The first round began in positive fashion on Thursday for the three-time major winner, who started on the 10th hole. He sent an approach shot just 14 inches from the cup for an easy tap-in birdie on the par-4 hole.
“Yeah, I got off to a dream start, and then I just wasn’t very tight off the tee today, and out here eventually that will hurt you,” Spieth said after the round.
Spieth chipped in from a greenside bunker for an eagle at the par-5 11th before following up two pars with a shot into the water at the par-4 14th. A double bogey was the end result there, and a bogey on 15 was answered by his second eagle of the day at the par-5 16th.
A bogey on the par-3 17th was countered by a birdie on the par-4 18th to put an end to the chaotic stretch.
Spieth said he would prefer avoiding that kind of volatility in a round. “I feel like I’d like it to be boring,” he said.
Spieth, 31, has fared well while working out the kinks following offseason wrist surgery, recording a T4 at the WM Phoenix Open and a T9 at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches.
A 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, Spieth has slipped to No. 65 in the Official World Golf Ranking. His last title came at the RBC Heritage in April 2022.
–Field Level Media
