British Open: Jordan Speith joint leader

Southport (United Kingdom): World number three Jordan Spieth shot a flawless five-under-par 65 to take a share of the clubhouse lead at the British Open in the first round on Thursday. Spieth, who won the Masters and the US Open in 2015 and is still only 23, had five birdies, including two in a row just before the turn, and no bogeys to position himself at the top of the leaderboard.

He is not alone, though, with reigning US Open champion Brooks Koepka also shooting 65. In his case, the only blip came with a bogey at 16 but he promptly recovered with an eagle at the long 17th. That duo are two shots ahead of England’s Ian Poulter, who had a 67 on his return to the venue where he came runner-up in 2008, and the American Justin Thomas.

Lurking at two-under are Japan’s world number two Hideki Matsuyama, Sweden’s Alex Noren, the world number nine, and Welshman Stuart Manley, the 38-year-old making his debut at a major championship. On a good morning for Europeans, England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and defending champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden all fired one-under-par rounds of 69. Spieth admitted it had been a near-perfect day to plant himself firmly in contention.

“I couldn’t have done much better today. I missed two greens,” said the 23-year-old, who won the Masters and US Open in 2015. “This course has a lot of crosswinds, so it’s tough to judge how far the ball is going to fly depending on what shot you play. So that speaks a lot to the ball-striking of the day.” Given his pedigree, it was noteworthy that Spieth rated the round as “maybe fifth or sixth” of all his major championship efforts. “Everything was strong. I thought I’d give it a nine across the board for everything — tee balls, ball-striking, short game and putting. So things are in check. It’s just about keeping it consistent.”

He also admitted it set him up nicely for Friday, when conditions are expected to deteriorate considerably with Spieth — who is playing with reigning champion Henrik Stenson — not starting his round until mid-afternoon. “I thought today’s round was extremely important, as they all are, but given the forecast coming in, I thought you really needed to be in the red today,” added Spieth.