In his first-ever tournament round at TPC River Highlands, Jordan Spieth fired a 7-under 63 and leads the Travelers Championship by one stroke.
The two-time major champion started his inaugural round red-hot with birdies on three of the first four holes, and five of the first eight, getting to 5-under through 8 holes.
A bogey to close the front-nine was the only blemish on the day for the young Texan, who cruised to a bogey-free final-nine, highlighted by a birdie on 18.
“Being 3 under through four it helps you walk a little easier, it helps kind of the shots you are playing throughout the round,” said the 23-year-old Spieth. “You don’t feel like you have to take as many chances and I was able to play away from pins when I was in a little bit of trouble.”
One back, tied for second at 6-under 64, is Johnson Wagner and Connecticut native Brett Stegmaier, who grew up just 25 miles from the course.
Despite a nightmarish season (13 missed-cuts in 20 starts), the 33-year-old Stegmaier is happy to be home, and feels his game is coming together.
“It feels great. It’s been a rough year obviously,” said Stegmaier. “Just nice to take another step in the right direction. It’s been coming together the last couple months even though the results haven’t really shown it. To shoot a really low round is a big confidence boost.
Graham DeLaet and Troy Merritt are tied for fourth at 5-under, and round out the top 5.
Rory McIlroy posted a 3-under 67 in his debut at TPC River Highlands. Afterwards, McIlroy, frustrated with his 30-putt performance, said he’s giving his new Taylormade putter one more week to turn things around.
“I made a decision this week I would give it one more week and see how it performed,” said McIlroy. “It’s nothing to do with the putter. It’s mostly what I’m doing with it.”
Jim Furyk, who shot a 58 in his last round at the Travelers, was nine shots off that record-setting score, posting a 3-under 67.
World No. 4 Jason Day, who missed the cut at Erin Hills, continued his struggles in Connecticut, posting a 2-over 72. Defending champion Russell Knox shot 1-under 69.
Top 10
1 Jordan Spieth -7
T2 Johnson Wagner -6
T2Brett Stegmaier -6
T4 Graham DeLaet -5
T4 Troy Merritt -5
T6 Xander Schauffele -4
T6 Fabian Gomez -4
T6 Hudson Swafford -4
T6 Padraig Harrington -4
T6 Brian Harman -4
T6 Boo Weekley -4
T6 Tom Hoge -4
T6 Matt Every -4
T6 Scott Piercy -4
T6 Mark Hubbard -4
T6 Kevin Na -4
T6 Daniel Summerhays -4
T6 Beau Hossler -4
Video Highlights
Quotable
“I got off to a beautiful start on 1 and 2, knocking a putt in and hitting it really tight there. Felt good. Felt like a golf course we could take advantage of. Just tried to keep the ball in the fairway, and from there, you have short enough clubs into the green to where your misses can still be putts.”
–Jordan Spieth, Round One Leader
Leaderboard
Travelers Championship . First Round . TPC River Highlands
POS | PLAYER | TO PAR | TOT |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jordan Spieth | -7 | 63 |
T2 | Johnson Wagner | -6 | 64 |
T2 | Brett Stegmaier | -6 | 64 |
T4 | Graham DeLaet | -5 | 65 |
T4 | Troy Merritt | -5 | 65 |
T6 | Xander Schauffele | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Fabian Gomez | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Hudson Swafford | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Padraig Harrington | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Brian Harman | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Boo Weekley | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Tom Hoge | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Matt Every | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Scott Piercy | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Mark Hubbard | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Kevin Na | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Daniel Summerhays | -4 | 66 |
T6 | Beau Hossler | -4 | 66 |
T19 | Harris English | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Keegan Bradley | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Robert Streb | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Rory McIlroy | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Jim Furyk | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Patrick Reed | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Rod Pampling | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Mackenzie Hughes | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Michael Kim | -3 | 67 |
T19 | David Hearn | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Byeong Hun An | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Sebastian Munoz | -3 | 67 |
T19 | David Lingmerth | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Wesley Bryan | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Cameron Percy | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Steve Wheatcroft | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Morgan Hoffmann | -3 | 67 |
T19 | Bryson DeChambeau | -3 | 67 |
T37 | Smylie Kaufman | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Paul Casey | -2 | 68 |
T37 | J.J. Henry | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Danny Lee | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Hunter Mahan | -2 | 68 |
T37 | John Peterson | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Tag Ridings | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Spencer Levin | -2 | 68 |
T37 | William McGirt | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Daniel Berger | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Brendan Steele | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Vaughn Taylor | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Ryan Brehm | -2 | 68 |
T37 | Chase Seiffert | -2 | 68 |
T51 | Kevin Streelman | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Robert Garrigus | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Gonzalo Fdez-Castano | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Chez Reavie | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Grayson Murray | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Greg Chalmers | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Emiliano Grillo | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Charley Hoffman | -1 | 69 |
T51 | K.J. Choi | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Billy Hurley III | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Kyle Reifers | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Tyrone van Aswegen | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Rick Lamb | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Bobby Wyatt | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Jonathan Randolph | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Scott Stallings | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Will MacKenzie | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Nick Watney | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Russell Knox | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Marc Leishman | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Alex Cejka | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Ken Duke | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Ryan Palmer | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Seung-yul Noh | -1 | 69 |
T51 | Joel Dahmen | -1 | 69 |
T76 | Andres Gonzales | E | 70 |
T76 | Kyle Stanley | E | 70 |
T76 | Webb Simpson | E | 70 |
T76 | Adam Hadwin | E | 70 |
T76 | Harold Varner, III | E | 70 |
T76 | Chad Campbell | E | 70 |
T76 | Bryce Molder | E | 70 |
T76 | Dominic Bozzelli | E | 70 |
T76 | Sung-hoon Kang | E | 70 |
T76 | Ricky Barnes | E | 70 |
T76 | Brandon Hagy | E | 70 |
T76 | Brad Fritsch | E | 70 |
T76 | Kelly Kraft | E | 70 |
T76 | Patrick Rodgers | E | 70 |
T76 | Tony Finau | E | 70 |
T76 | Retief Goosen | E | 70 |
T76 | Brandt Snedeker | E | 70 |
T76 | Bud Cauley | E | 70 |
T76 | Whee Kim | E | 70 |
T76 | C.T. Pan | E | 70 |
T96 | Jason Kokrak | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Stuart Appleby | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Carl Pettersson | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Jhonattan Vegas | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Brian Stuard | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Nick Taylor | 1 | 71 |
T96 | John Huh | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Ryan Ruffels | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Derek Fathauer | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Jonas Blixt | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Chad Collins | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Brian Campbell | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Richy Werenski | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Julian Etulain | 1 | 71 |
T96 | Ryan Armour | 1 | 71 |
T111 | Lucas Glover | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Vijay Singh | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Jason Day | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Jim Herman | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Tim Wilkinson | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Ben Crane | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Miguel Angel Carballo | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Martin Laird | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Trey Mullinax | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Brian Gay | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Peter Malnati | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Jamie Lovemark | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Mark Anderson | 2 | 72 |
T111 | Seamus Power | 2 | 72 |
T125 | Jason Bohn | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Geoff Ogilvy | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Justin Thomas | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Patton Kizzire | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Kevin Tway | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Anirban Lahiri | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Zac Blair | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Martin Flores | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Luke Donald | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Troy Kelly | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Shawn Stefani | 3 | 73 |
T125 | Steven Alker | 3 | 73 |
T137 | Mark Wilson | 4 | 74 |
T137 | Bob Estes | 4 | 74 |
T137 | Cody Gribble | 4 | 74 |
T137 | Rory Sabbatini | 4 | 74 |
T137 | Zack Sucher | 4 | 74 |
T137 | Brett Coletta | 4 | 74 |
T143 | Nicholas Lindheim | 5 | 75 |
T143 | JT Poston | 5 | 75 |
T143 | Michael Thompson | 5 | 75 |
T143 | Bubba Watson | 5 | 75 |
T143 | Zach Johnson | 5 | 75 |
T143 | Brett Drewitt | 5 | 75 |
T149 | Zach Zaback | 6 | 76 |
T149 | Ryan Blaum | 6 | 76 |
T149 | Billy Downes | 6 | 76 |
152 | Charlie Beljan | 7 | 77 |
T153 | Wyndham Clark | 8 | 78 |
T153 | Neil Johnson | 8 | 78 |
155 | Bobby Gates | 10 | 80 |
156 | Andrew Loupe | 11 | 81 |