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Jordan Spieth made just five pars Thursday in the first round of the 2023 Hero World Challenge. Somehow, he's 4 under and within one shot of the co-lead, shared by Tony Finau and Brian Harman at 5 under.
The big news of the day was, of course, Tiger Woods returning to competitive play after eight months off. While Woods' 75 was uninspiring in terms of the leaderboard, it was encouraging that Tiger looked fit and fairly sound across all 18 holes. The iron play was not his best, but that's sort of beside the point for him at this time of year.
And while Woods was in contention for most of the first part of his round before dropping way off the board late, the two guys he was chasing -- Harman and Finau -- were rock solid throughout.
That duo combined to make just two bogeys on the day (three fewer than Spieth by himself, if you're keeping track), and what is striking is how different their styles were en route to getting it done. Finau is the monstrous, big-hitting righty who mostly gets it done with his ball-striking. Harman is the small, short-hitting lefty who gets up and down from all over the yard. But there they are tied after Round 1.
"I showed up here and I could tell on the range I was hitting it pretty good," said Harman. "Like my starting point was better this week than it was for the RSM [Classic]. I knew I was in a little better starting spot, like kind of the nuts and bolts of it were kind of lining up a little bit better."
Spieth, on the other hand, was not rock solid. He was all over the place, which was both amusing and expected. Here are his scores from the first 18 on Thursday.
- Eagles: 2
- Birdies: 6
- Pars: 5
- Bogeys: 4
- Doubles: 1
It was about as Spieth-y as it gets, but it also got him within one of the lead.
"It was an electric factory out there, for sure," he said. "Some rusty putting, a couple toe balls and then a lot of really, really good stuff. So, all in all, I would have probably signed for 4 under when I was warming up today, I just didn't think I'd get there this way."
He might be the only one who did not think that.
While Tiger's round of 75 was mildly disappointing given how well he played through the first 14 holes, the most disappointing round of the day belonged to Will Zalatoris, who shot a 9-over 81 in his first event back since back surgery earlier this year. It was great to see him playing again, and it started well with a birdie at the first, but he played the next 17 in 11 over to finish five back of 19th (Wyndham Clark at 4 over).
2023 Hero World Challenge leaderboard, Round 1
T1. Brian Harman: -5
T1. Tony Finau: -5
3. Jordan Spieth: -4
T4. Cameron Young: -3
T4. Scottie Scheffler: -3
T4. Collin Morikawa: -3
T4. Max Homa: -3
T8. Matt Fitzpatrick: -2
T8. Justin Thomas: -2
T10. Lucas Glover -1
T10. Sam Burns -1
T10. Jason Day -1
T13. Sepp Straka E
T13. Keegan Bradley E
T13. Justin Rose E
16. Viktor Hovland +1
17. Rickie Fowler +2
18. Tiger Woods +3
19. Wyndham Clark +4
20. Will Zalatoris +9
