Jordan Spieth looked unstoppable Thursday, carding a bogey-free 7-under 63 to soar to the top of the leaderboard at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
He made five birdies and an eagle, with his three at the par-5 16th being the highlight of the day.
Measuring 532 yards and playing as the easiest hole on the course, Spieth pushed his second shot at the 16th to the right of the green.
His ball nestled in a collection area below the putting surface, so failing to get up and down was not out of the question.
We’ve seen this before ��@JordanSpieth takes the lead with a hole-out eagle @FedExChamp! pic.twitter.com/L8QjCBLdro
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 10, 2023
Spieth had little room for error, but the short-game wizard made it look easy. He perfectly executed the bump-and-run, rolling it into the hole for an eagle three.
Funny enough, he practiced that same shot earlier in the week.
“I hit that shot three or four times to that pin on Tuesday, and obviously different conditions—it was wetter now—but with how steep it was and how grainy it was where it was going to land, it didn’t play much different,” Spieth revealed after his round.
“It’s cool when you sit there, and you’re like, I know this is a shot I don’t want to have, but I could very much have, and it’s not a great spot, so let me just go ahead and see—you hit the exact shot to the exact pin and then [it goes in]. It was a neat shot.”
Spieth started off his round on a high note, making three birdies over the first five holes.
He made two more on the backside.