Jordan Spieth makes return to action at the WGC-HSBC Champions

Jordan Spieth was pleased with his return to action at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai after his longest lay-off from the sport in a decade.

The world No 2 didn't pick up a club for two weeks after helping the USA to victory in the Presidents Cup in South Korea, his longest break from golf since he 'was 12 or 13', but made a steady start at Sheshan International with a four-under 68.

Spieth, who can return to the top of the world rankings with a top-ten finish this week, opened with back-to-back gains but showed signs of rust with a bogey at the 13th and a weak tee shot at the 17th which found the hazard.

The 22-year-old picked up a shot at the second and birdied two his final three holes to stay within five strokes of early leader Branden Grace, with Spieth left upbeat with his first round in China.

 "I was actually pleased to get back to work," Spieth said. "The first week (off) was really nice, but the second week I was very bored and didn't know what I'd do to myself.

"I'd go to the gym, put some work in there and get some rehab and still have the majority of the day left.

"I hit some shots (on Thursday) that looked like we were just continuing the end of the season, and I hit some that looked like I took some time off. It was a bit of both.

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"All in all, I was very pleased. Obviously, I thought four under would be further up the leaderboard than it is, but there's a lot of guys playing solid golf right now."

Strong start

Grace's nine under 63 leaves him one-shot clear of a trio of players including Thorbjorn Olesen and Kevin Kisner, while Patrick Reed is part of the group a further stroke off the pace.

The American is chasing a first victory worldwide since January's Hyundai Tournament of Champions win, but isn't setting himself any specific targets for the week despite a bogey-free start. 

"Any time you tee it up, you almost have to treat the Majors and the World Golf Championships just like they are a regular event," Reed said. " The more pressure you put on yourself, you're going to end up hitting looser shots, pressing too much and making that big number.

"Coming into this week, I felt like I'd been hitting the ball pretty solid. It was another one of those days where I felt like I could have hit the ball better, but luckily I made a lot of solid putts that you need to make to keep your round going.

"As long as you can keep yourself away from that and play aggressively to conservative lines, you leave yourself a lot of putts and have chances."

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