Texas Open: Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Graeme McDowell off to good starts
Friday 5 April 2019 08:07, UK
Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler both made strong starts to the Valero Texas Open as Graeme McDowell's bid for back-to-back wins also began positively on day one.
Spieth and Fowler bucked the trend of high-profile stars taking the week off ahead of the Masters next week, but they will have high hopes of arriving at Augusta National on the back of a victory after they fired four-under 68s to end the first round just two behind leader, Si Woo Kim.
McDowell, who picked up his first title for three-and-a-half years in the Dominican Republic last week, opened with a confident 69 in San Antonio, along with the likes of Matt Kuchar and Ireland's Seamus Power.
But the first day belonged to former Players champion Kim, who was just one under after 10 holes before surging to the top of the leaderboard with a sparkling run of five birdies in six holes, although his lead could have been bigger had he taken advantage of further good chance on the last two greens.
The South Korean had to settle for a pair of closing pars and a six-under 66 which left him one clear of JT Poston, Abraham Ancer, Brian Stuard and Jhonattan Vegas, with Fowler and Spieth in a huge group of players tied for sixth, which included their 2016 Ryder Cup team-mate Ryan Moore.
Fowler got off to a hot start in the cooler, early conditions as he birdied three of his first five holes and picked up further shots at the second and fifth before blotting his card with a scrappy bogey-six at the long eighth.
Spieth also had five birdies against one bogey and was particularly dialled-in with his wedges, while the highlight of Moore's 68 was a superb eagle at the second, where he found the green in two with a 286-yard hammer-blow and nailed the putt for a three.
"I'm going in the right direction and I think Augusta will enhance that," said Spieth, whose last five Masters starts have yielded one win, two runner-up finishes and a third place last year.
"All this feel that I'm trying to put back into the game - less thinking with more feel - Augusta requires that. A past history helps but just having the confidence that I know how to play that course could go a long way."
Kuchar got to five under with his sixth birdie of the day at the fourth, his 13th, although he found trouble at seven and nine and was unable to save par each time as he slipped into a group of 16 players on three under par.
That group featured a resurgent McDowell, who kept a bogey off his card as he continued the form that swept him to victory at last week's Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, where he bounced back from a first-day 73 with a pair of 64s before a closing 69 was enough to seal his fourth PGA Tour title.
Padraig Harrington and Martin Kaymer are among another huge bunch of players on level par, while Luke Donald will have to go low on Friday to make the weekend after he stumbled to a 74.
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