Australian Open: Jordan Spieth makes ‘boring’ start to title defence

Jordan Spieth made a boring start to his defence of the Stonehaven Cup. His words, not ours.

Jordan Spieth hits his approach shot to the 14th during the opening round of the Australian Open. Picture Gregg Porteous

Jordan Spieth made a boring start to his defence of the Stonehaven Cup. His words, not ours.

“The first hole I hit a pretty good drive that just fell into the bunker,” Spieth said.

“That pin was very, very challenging. I made a nice par there. Otherwise it was relatively boring golf.

“The tough ones I got up and down. The most basic ones — the one on the 9th hole, you give me 100 shots and 95 per cent of the time it is going to be up and down. It was a brain fart there.

“I was still frustrated at how we were misjudging the wind. It certainly could have been worse today.”

Spieth finished his opening round at The Australian Golf Club at even-par. He made three birdies on the back nine — he started on the 10th — and none on the front nine.

His round was blighted by three bogeys and he has some work do given he is five shots behind unlikely leader Lincoln Tighe on a day when the wind made scoring difficult for even the best players in the world.

Nowhere was that more evident than on the par-four 9th. Spieth made bogey, as did playing partner and former world No 1 Lee Westwood. The other member of their group, Geoff Ogilvy, walked off with a double bogey after spinning his second shot into the water.

Between them, they played the hole in four-over as the wind played havoc with their decision making. Adam Scott miraculously escaped with a double bogey at the same hole after chipping in.

Afterwards, Spieth was asked whether he had played in worse conditions this year.

“The toughest part is when you have the crosswind and you’re trying to decide whether it’s helping or hurting,” Spieth replied.

LEADERBOARD

“When you bring hazards in it just makes it challenging. To be honest, I hit two fairways on the back nine.

“When you’re playing out of rough or bunkers, it is even harder to control. I really need to drive the ball better. Given the conditions were tough, I still could have found the fairway or taken an iron to make sure I found the fairway.

“Decision making was definitely a challenge.”

While Spieth played in the morning, Scott got the worst of it in the afternoon. Yet he too walked off with a 71.

“All was going nicely and then in the space of three holes you have to not think the wheels have fallen off,” Scott said.

“In tough conditions like this your bad stuff happens in patches like this. I absolutely pride myself on grinding it out. If I don’t, Steve (Williams) will make sure I do.

“It was unfortunate I made two double (bogeys) and that was costly. The rest of the round was pretty good stuff but that can happen in these conditions.

“It is tough out there. I let a couple of shots get away on me which fortunately today didn’t cost me a look at this tournament.”

While others headed to the range or the putting green after their rounds in the search for answers, Spieth opted to call it a day.

Rather than finetune his game, he decided to freshen his mind in preparation for today’s second round.

At the corresponding point last year he was four-under and in the thick of it. He went on to win the tournament by six shots with a course record on the last day.

Another course record may be in order if Spieth is to defend his title. “It’s a day where you pack it in, come out tomorrow a bit early, maybe hit a few extra balls tomorrow,” he said.

“Even on the putting green you’re not going to get much out of it because you’re going to get gusts, you’re not going to make many and then mentally it’s not going to be very useful.”