Spieth rides birdie spree to Round 1 lead at the Masters

Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champion, fashioned a splendid 6-under-par 66 to sweep to a two-shot lead after the first round of the Masters Tournament on Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.

Spieth reached 7-under with birdies on the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes before hitting his drive on the closing hole left and into the trees and scrambling to save bogey.

The latter saw him chip sideways out of the trees and play a 3-wood from the start of the fairway to the left of the green before an inch-perfect chip that stopped just shy of falling in the cup for par.

“I knew left of the green I had room there, it was obviously a fantastic shot,” Spieth said of the chip on ESPN after his round. “I couldn’t get it closer with a bucket of balls.”

While he’s in a familiar position — leading after a round at The Masters for the ninth time in 17 career rounds in the tournament — Spieth knows there is a long way to go.

“It’s Round 1,” he said. “I know as well as anybody that anything happens here at Augusta National. I’m not going to get ahead of myself. It’s riding momentum from last week.”

Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar two strokes back after shooting 68s. Henrik Stenson of Sweden, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Adam Hadwin of Canada, Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain and Haotong Li of China share fourth place after 69s in conditions that were cool and mostly calm.

Early-wave leaders Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, Marc Leishman of Australia and 2007 champion Zach Johnson are at 70 with late finishers Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler, while Vijay Singh of Fiji (who won this event in 2000), Satoshi Kodaira of Japan, Cameron Smith of Australia, Xander Schauffele and Louis Ooshuizen of South Africa shot 71 on Thursday to finish three strokes off the lead.

Amateur Doug Ghim holed out from the fairway on the 18th hole for his second eagle of the day, placing him in a group at 72 that included Italy’s Francesco Molinari, Kyle Stanley, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, Tommy Fleetwood of England and 1992 champion Fred Couples.

Four-time champion Tiger Woods was among a group at 73 after the morning wave that included Ted Potter Jr., Brian Harman, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Jason Dufner, Pat Perez and Daniel Berger.

Defending champion Sergio Garcia of Spain tied a dubious mark with a 13 on the par-5 15th hole on Thursday. Garcia came to the 15th tee at 2-over-par, but hit five consecutive shots into the pond that fronts the putting surface by landing them on the sloped green and watching as his ball rolled back into the water.

His score on the 15th tied the course record for shots on a single hole and set the record for the highest score on No. 15. The previous high score on the hole was an 11. Garcia made an eagle 3 on the same hole in the final round last year en route to victory.

Garcia made a tough, side-hill 10-foot putt to end the torture, and then birdied the par-3 16th on the way to a round of 81, tied with amateur Matt Parziale for 85th in the 87-player field.

–Field Level Media