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.
