Jordan Spieth shoots 64, seizes 3-stroke lead at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. - For someone who is 21 years old and is playing in the Masters for just the second time in his life, Jordan Spieth possesses the game and the demeanor of an Augusta National Golf Club veteran while maintaining the youthful exuberance to use the word "cool" a lot.

Indeed, Spieth was the coolest customer on a hot day Thursday amid the azaleas and the dogwoods, carding nine birdies in a near-record-tying round of 8-under-par 64 that was good for a 3-stroke lead after the opening round of the 79th Masters.

Spieth, who shared the lead after 54 holes last year but lost to Bubba Watson, fell a stroke short of both the tournament record and the mark for the lowest round ever shot in a major championship. He became the youngest 18-hole leader in Masters history at 21 years, 8 months, 13 days.

Stealing much of the spotlight from the return to competition of Tiger Woods, Spieth flirted with a 63 or even a 62 after a run of six birdies in seven holes that ended with a two-foot tap-in birdie at the 14th hole and left him at 8 under with four holes to play. But he hit too much club for his second shot at the reachable par-5 15th and bogeyed the hole after taking 4 more strokes from 40 yards behind the green.

"I wasn't aware of what the course record was here, let alone that it actually would have been the lowest round in major championship history," Spieth said. "So that's a little frustrating because I took a hybrid instead of a 4-iron out on 15.

"But I'm certainly OK with the day," he added with a laugh. "It was kind of one of those moments where I wasn't really sure where I was at. I just wanted to play the last four 1 under given that 15 was a birdie hole today. Obviously if I had birdied it, then I would have been 10 [under]."

However, he got the stroke back at the 18th with a 20-foot birdie putt for the 64, the lowest opening round at a Masters since Greg Norman's 63 in 1996. Nick Price also shot a 63 at Augusta in 1986.

"It was cool," Spieth said of the putt on 18. "It was cool when it went in. It was cool to get that extra stroke back. For me, I don't like finishing at a higher score than where I was at some point in the round. I was 8-under through 14 and I didn't want to finish any worse than 8-under, so it was cool to get that one back."

Spieth opened up some distance early against his pursuers, including a pair of major champions in 45-year-old Ernie Els and Justin Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion at Merion Golf Club.

Els and Rose shot 67s, the same score as Jason Day, who has contended twice already for a green jacket, and Charley Hoffman. Sergio Garcia, who is competing in his 65th major but still has yet to win one, was at 68 along with Russell Henley.

Woods, who had played only 47 holes this year entering Thursday, showed some rust but rode his short game and putting to a 73, saying afterward, "I felt good."

Rory McIlroy, who needs to win the Masters to complete the modern career Grand Slam, opened with a 71.

Of the 97 starters on Thursday, Els might have provided the most surprising round. The winner of two U.S. Opens and two British Opens had missed the cut this year in four of seven starts and admitted Thursday, "There's been no sign of any form."

But the South African carded five birdies in his opening round, and an eagle 3 at 15 briefly put him in the lead at 6 under. Though he bogeyed the final hole, he felt extremely positive about his round.

"I just felt comfortable," he said. "I felt at ease for some reason. I felt patient."

Now, however, Els and the rest have to chase down Spieth.