PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Golfer Jordan Spieth regrips his driver again and again, his twitchy right thumb still moving as he takes away the club.
The adventure begins as the ball launches into the air during Thursday’s first round of The Players Championship.
Spieth talks to his ball, himself or caddie Michael Greller, if not all three. The combination of nervous energy, histrionics and shot-making turn a round of golf into an 18-act play.
After stumbling during the final holes of a gut-wrenching Sunday at Bay Hill, Spieth arrived at TPC Sawgrass seeking a little less drama.
An opening 3-under 69 at times required Spieth’s magical touch, but was generally mistake- and stress-free on a course where he’s struggled.
The world’s 15th-ranked player ultimately outclassed a high-profile grouping with No. 7 Max Homa (72) and No. 9 Justin Thomas (73) to sit 5 shots behind surprising leader Chad Ramey and well-positioned for the second round.
When darkness halted play, nine of the 11 players 4-under or better had played during the morning wave.
“Maybe we’ll get a chance to go at it maybe a little bit more tomorrow,” Spieth said as sunset fell Thursday.
One of the PGA Tour’s marquee stars, Spieth has rarely found his form during its showcase event.
The 29-year-old aims to build on his just his third sub-70 round at TPC Sawgrass since 2018, a stretch including scores of 74, 75, 76 and 79 — that 7-over par effort during a blustery, punishing second round in 2022.
“I’m not going to try and do anything differently, try and force anything more,” he said. “If I can limit mistakes — I played smart when I was out of position today — the rest of my game feels really solid and should be able to make enough birdies to work my way into contention.”
Spieth played his way into contention days earlier during the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He birdied four of his first five holes and at one point led the tournament. Spieth then missed four consecutive putts inside 8 feet during the closing five holes to finish 2 shots behind winner Kurt Kitayama.
On Thursday, Spieth putted with better speed and conviction to finish 15 of 15 from 10 feet or closer. This included critical 8-footers for par on Nos. 3 and 4 following a 22-foot birdie on the par-5 2nd hole.
“It was really nice to be 1-under when I could have been 1-over,” he said.
Spieth exited the 9th green at even par, but birdied the next three holes.
A 37-yard shot to a back pin to set up a birdie on the par-5 11th showcased the bunker-player brilliance that is the hallmark of his game and highlighted his first PGA Tour win with a hole-out as a 19-year-old at the 2013 John Deere Classic.
On Thursday, Spieth also set up a birdie on the par-5 16th, with a chunk-and-runner with his right foot out of the sand.
“Capping those off with making birdies on those holes when I’m in a position where it could have been easy to bail out of them and make par, that’s the difference in being at 3-under and having to worry about more stress tomorrow,” he said.
Stress is inevitable in a golf game played on the razor’s edge.
Spieth’s style is compelling and popular, while his scrambling ability has made him a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. A win this week would be another crown jewel on a resume featuring three major championships among 13 total victories.
But TPC Sawgrass has not been kind to Spieth.
He was just 20 and the “Golden Child” during his first Players in 2014, coming off a close-call at the Masters when Sawgrass hosted the event in May. A bogey-free 66 during the second round put him in the hunt, but a final-round 74 to left him tied for fourth.
The finished remains his only inside the top-40 in seven subsequent trips, a stretch including five missed cuts.
Spieth will enter Friday’s second round looking to turn the page.
“Hopefully just trying to turn around the next 10 years of my history at this tournament from the last 10,” he quipped. “That’s the goal is just try and shoot a good score tomorrow and then progress through the weekend.”
