Australian Open: Jordan Spieth’s birdie-bogey rollercoaster ride

Jordan Spieth’s ball was disappearing on the breeze. He stomped his foot. So many mistakes, he said. So many.

Jordan Spieth tees off on the 1st in front of a huge gallery at The Australian Golf Club.

Jordan Spieth’s ball was disappearing on the breeze. He stomped his foot. God! I just got smoked by the wind! He put his head down and muttered to himself. So many mistakes, he said. So many.

Spieth’s tee shot on the 15th hole was emblematic of his round of one-under par 71 at the Australian Open yesterday afternoon. It was the hardest slog, but not as bad as he thought.

The world No 2 fought nerves, the stiff nor’ easter, a minor blister on his right hand and a rare bout of inconsistency after a two-month lay-off to card five bogeys and six birdies in a performance from the defending champion that could most accurately be described as all over the shop.

“A bit inconsistent,” Spieth said after brightening his mood by squeezing a birdie out of the par-five 18th hole ahead of a planned assault on the leaderboard in more benign morning conditions today. “Five bogeys today, I think? To shoot under par with that, that’s really good. There was quite a bit of good after a rough start. Given this is the longest I’ve had between tournaments since maybe college, I was a little anxious to get started. I had the nerves to begin with. My short game was a bit rusty but I started to pick it up and play pretty well from there.”

At noon, Spieth had walked on to the first tee with all the airs and graces of Prince William performing a series of official duties. He shook hands with the veteran announcer under the wide-brimmed hat. He shook hands with his playing partners. He shook hands with the gentleman carrying a mobile scoreboard. He shook hands with a trembling old dear carrying a ‘Quiet Please’ sign.

Watching Spieth shake every hand he could get hold of, the feeling was that he would’ve been kissing babies without the one insurmountable obstacle to that. No babies.

The wind was strong down the first, left to right, and it would get stronger as the afternoon progressed. He was already eight shots behind the leader, Cameron Davis. His drive split the fairway and that was as consistent as he got. A bogey up the first. A bogey on the second. He birdied the fourth and fifth holes. Bogeyed the sixth. Birdied the ninth and 11th. Bogeyed the 12th. Birdied the 13th. Bogeyed the 14th. Birdied the 18th to complete a cross-eyed sort of round that was not as disastrous as it appeared on the leaderboard. The afternoon was brutally tough. None of the morning groups were mourning groups.

“I take a lot of pride in the bounce-back stat,” Spieth said. “After a bad hole, coming back and making birdie, I did that. But then at the other end of it, I was then bouncing back after the birdie and making a bogey. I bogeyed just about every hole after I made a birdie. Fortunately we finished on 18 with a birdie. I can’t bogey the 19th hole. It was just like each shot after I made a birdie and thought I’d find some momentum, I couldn’t quite maintain it today.”

Spieth was tied for 27th ahead of his 7.05am tee time today.

“I stole a birdie,” he said of the 18th. “I think you’ll see most of the scores on the leaderboard, for the first two pages, there might be one or two from the afternoon. There was tremendous scoring conditions in the morning. I’ve got to go out and take advantage tomorrow and move up the board. Those guys will get what we had this afternoon and it will certainly be more difficult. Being seven back isn’t really being seven back. My goal is four or five under tomorrow. I’m not anxious about the finish of this tournament yet.”