Jordan Spieth and Jason Day out of sorts on day one at The Open
By Keith Jackson at Royal Troon
Last Updated: 14/07/16 11:29pm
Jordan Spieth struggled to get to grips with the greens at Royal Troon as he fired a disappointing first-round 71 at The 145th Open.
Spieth was delighted with his ball-striking in perfect conditions at the Ayrshire links, but he endured a rare off-day with his putter as he mixed three birdies with as many bogeys to close on level par.
The world No 3 made an encouraging start as he birdied the par-five fourth and sixth holes, but he dropped shots at nine and 11 around the turn before a birdie at 17 was offset by another bogey at the last when he splayed his drive right and compounded the error with a poor chip from short of the green.
When asked what was wrong with his putting, he said: "That's a question I almost never get asked, so because of that, I'm not thinking much of it. My stroke's been great heading into here, I putted tremendously at Akron and I feel like it's in the same place here.
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"I struck the ball tremendously well, just couldn't quite match up the speed and line. I'd leave three or four just short and low, and then I'd just hit one a little too hard and high. So that happens, unfortunately, in a tournament round where I'm giving myself a lot of looks at birdie.
"It's okay, it's nothing major. I struck the ball as well as I've struck it since Hawaii, maybe. I really hit the ball phenomenally well today. I probably hit it as well as anybody in the field and shot five, six shots over the leader, so that normally doesn't happen for me.
"That's normally my really low round. So if I can keep my rhythm and my swing as we lead into these tougher condition days, the next couple days, I should be able to make up some strokes."
Jason Day was also frustrated at not taking advantage of the benign conditions ahead of an expected two days of inclement weather, and he was let down by his iron play in an erratic two-over 73.
The world No 1 hit only 10 greens in regulation and, after being one under after six holes, he bogeyed eight and nine before dropping another shot at 18 when he pulled a two-iron off the tee into a fairway bunker and was forced to lay up.
"I actually drove it pretty good today with my driver, but every time I hit an iron I kept on missing left," Day said. "That's usually not the miss I've been having lately, so it kind of caught me off guard. It was kind of hard to trust the swing from there.
"It's two over par on a pretty easy day out there, but the next three days are going to be pretty difficult so I've got a lot of work to do. Obviously when you're confident with your swing, you can get up there and hit different shots. Right now I'm trying to hit a certain shot and it's coming out the opposite.
"If I'm patient and I just start hitting the correct shots and give myself the opportunities, I can get myself back in the tournament."
But Rickie Fowler was in a far more positive mood after returning a two-under 69 featuring three birdies and just one mistake at the 12th. Watch the video above to hear Fowler reflecting on his round with Tim Barter at the Sky Cart.
