Jordan Spieth’s putter was closer to a magic wand than ever to a golf club, and the former Longhorn had one of those days Thursday at the Valspar Championship.
The three-time major champion opened with a putt of nearly 148 feet in his bogey-free 4-under 67 at Innisbrook, which also included a 57-footer for birdie on the par-3 15th.th and a 31-footer for birdie on the par-4 sixth.
Full field scores from the Valspar Championship
When he finished his opening round, he was achieving over 4.5 shot putting, which was more than enough to lead the field.
“I was able to snag a few extra things with the putter today,” Spieth said. “I feel like my putts are working where I really want them to. I felt like I made some really good pars from the 4- to 8-foot range that survived that round.” kept.
Spieth was the name of the par game for Thursday, with par streaks of holes four, seven and three. par-4 after starting at 10th At Innisbrook, Spieth started his round with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16, before adding another birdie on the sixth. He could only play four par 5s at 1 under.
As good as Spieth was with the putter, his performance with the driver kept it from being a good round. He hit just five of 13 fairways, gaining less than three-tenths of a shot from the tee.
Spieth said, “With only hitting like five-ish fairways, you do that around this place and shoot par, it’s pretty solid.” “My ball striking has been really solid including off the tee over the past month and it just needs to tighten up a bit. I didn’t feel like I did a great job in the last three days and felt the same way today. So hopefully it just gets better every day.
Spieth played Thursday morning with two-time defending champion Sam Burns. Burns held the lead for most of the day, but bogeyed two of his last five holes to finish at 2-under. The 13-time Tour winner enjoyed playing alongside the 2021 and ’22 champions.
“So, you know, when you’re playing with Sam, you know what the standard is here, so you’re just trying to — if you beat him, you’re probably going to beat him based on the last few years.” Can beat everyone else,” Spieth said. “So it’s fun to see him do shots like this around the place, especially roll it on these greens.”
After a driver nonconformity earlier this year, Sam Burns has found what he loves at Valspar
Spieth – who is looking to win for the first time since the 2022 RBC Heritage and only the third time since the 2017 Open Championship – trailed Ryan Brabham, Stefan Jaeger and Adam Schenk after the first round. All three opened with 5-under 66, but Brabham was the highlight of the day with a hole-in-one on the 196-yard par-3 17th.th,
“It kind of surprised me when I saw it go into the hole, honestly,” Brehm said. “But we got good feedback. It was very funny. I was really trying to cover the front edge of the green, and we had wind that was down the right. I think we had the front edge.” Edge had 189 to cover and it probably flew about 200 yards. So it was pretty funny to watch that thing go in.
Brehm said it was the first ace he made in nearly 15 years, yet it was the second time he was out of the tee box this week.
During Monday’s Pro-Am, Briham hit his tee shot on the 190-yard par-3 13thth In the water, re-tied and holed his third shot for par.
“It should be something about this week,” Briham said.
Justin Thomas, the pre-tournament betting favorite, finished with Burns at 2 under par.
