Before Thursday, Jordan Spieth had not competed at the John Deere Classic since 2015, when he won his second of two tournament titles (2013).
It is that experience, however dated, that gives Spieth hope after a mediocre opening round in this edition. Spieth shot 2-under 69, which puts him 10 strokes behind Hayden Springer’s lead, who finished 14th in the Toure score below 60.
In ’13, Spieth opened with a 70 and then shot three straight 65s before winning a playoff. In ’15, he opened with a 71 and then shot 64-61-68 before winning another playoff.
Eleven of the last 14 John Deere Classics have been won by at least 20-under. Spieth realizes he has a long way to go to break a two-plus-year drought without a win. But …
“I’ve done it before, so I can do it again,” Spieth said.
Starting on the back nine Thursday at TPC Deere Run, Spieth hit his second shot into the water on the par-5 11e and made a bogey. He then made four birdies in a series of six holes around the turn, before playing his last seven holes in 1 over.
While Spieth gained strokes off the tee in Round 1, he lost strokes around the green and in putting.
“The years I won, I opened with 70 and 71, so I improved on that, but yeah, generally I wanted to get a few more, of course,” he said. “It looked like I had it going for a while; unfortunately I couldn’t drop them.”
