Spieth the star as Masters starts

21-year-old becomes youngest player to lead after the opening round.

AUGUSTA: Jordan Spieth produced one of the greatest rounds of golf in major history on Thursday with a 64 to lead by three strokes after the first round of the 79th Masters.

The 21-year-old Texan at one stage looked in line to become the first player to shoot below 63 in a major — a mark currently shared by 24 golfers — but a poor approach shot to the 15th led to his only bogey and nudged the record agonisingly out of his grasp.

Still, Spieth closed with a 20-footer for an ninth birdie at the last to surpass fellow young gun Rory McIlroy as the youngest player to have led the Masters after the opening round and underlined his huge potential once again.

Tied for second on his debut last year, Spieth ended the day at Augusta National as sole leader; three shots clear of a rejuvenated South African veteran Ernie Els, England’s Justin Rose, Australian Jason Day and American Charley Hoffman.

“It’s nice to put myself in a position now where I can really stay patient, dig in and keep giving myself opportunities and not worry about anything else,” said Spieth. “I can pretty much control my own destiny from here on in.”

However, the youngster knows there is still a lot of work to be done. “I was leading last year at one point by a couple of shots, it didn’t go my way,” he said. “I know how many things can happen in a major championship and I try and learn from last year, and stay patient in these next three rounds.”

The superb performance by the young Texan eclipsed the two big storylines that were the talk of Augusta at the start of the day concerning Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

The 39-year-old Woods returned after two-month timeout he called on himself to try and piece back together his once dominant game.

But, after enjoying a promising build-up to the tournament, Woods once again struggled at times, especially early on, as he clattered a couple of drives into the trees, misjudged chips and then found the water of Rae’s Creek at the 13th en route to a 73.

It was still a step forward in some ways after his woeful performances earlier this year, but leaves him with a fight on his hands just to make the Masters cut, something he last failed to do in 1996 when he was still an amateur.

Woods was, however, upbeat over his showing. “I felt good. I felt like I hit the ball well enough to shoot three-under par,” he said. “Our entire group was really struggling at the greens. We had a hard time hitting the putts hard enough.”

World number one McIlroy, aiming to become just the sixth man in golfing history to complete a career Grand Slam of the four majors, settled for a quiet day.

His one-under 71, which contained three birdies and two bogeys, was largely without incident and he would have been even more handily placed if not for Spieth’s late fireworks.

Still the 25-year-old, a four-time major winner, said he was content with his day’s work. “Yeah, I just kept telling myself to be patient out there today. It was a tricky day. Anything under par I felt was a pretty good score,” he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.