JERSEY CITY, N.J. – In Round 1 of The Northern Trust, Jordan Spieth shot a 1-over 72 and things started much of the same on Day 2 with a bogey at the first. But things quickly turned positive as he tallied a front-nine 31, including a pair of eagles.
The first eagle came at the par-4 fifth, after he smashed a tee shot 327 yards and then holed out from 81 yards.
He made eagle again on the next hole, the par-5 sixth, but this was even more impressive. His drive went 294 yards to the right rough, leaving him 255 yards to the hole. His second shot landed in the hazard area, just outside the water, and Spieth nearly took a little dip – as Justin Thomas did earlier in the day – before holing out from 84 feet.
On No. 8, Spieth nearly emulated his backspin eagle at the fifth hole, but the ball finished 3 feet shy and he made birdie. Still, not too shabby.
Spieth continued his scoring spree on the back nine, with four more birdies. It all added up to course-record-tying, 9-under 62. Despite all the circles and just one square on his card, Spieth still wasn't completely pleased with his performance.
"I'm still struggling a little bit to really get a nice motion on the swing. I feel it was weird, I didn't hit a lot of great shots today from outside of 150 yards, even to the tee, but then you know, wedged it beautifully, was patient, when I drove it in a couple lips of some fairway bunkers and had to punch out and make par, par save kept me going," Spieth said.
"I didn't have many putts outside of 5 feet because I didn't play normal golf today. It was just kind of one of those days where you probably won't get away with that throughout the weekend. But just chipped the ball unbelievably well and then it led to at least some short par putts and then took advantage when they were for birdie."
Spieth sits at 8 under par, overall, four shots back of leader Jon Rahm.