2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude: Slow Start Dooms Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth was hoping to gain some momentum this week at the 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis. Instead, he got off to an atrocious start on Thursday and will now need to rally to do anything significant this weekend.

Spieth started his round on the back nine and things went awry right away. On the par-4 10th hole, he drove his ball into the rough, then came up short with his second shot. His third was a poor chip that left him about 25 feet for par. He missed and suffered a bogey.

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After a par at the 11th hole, Spieth got into trouble on the 12th. His drive went into a fairway bunker and his second shot landed in the water. After a penalty, his fourth shot got him on the green, about 20 feet away. He would need two putts from there, ending the hole with a double bogey. He was 3-over par through three holes.

Spieth would par the 13th hole but had more trouble at the par-3 14th. There, his tee shot hit the green but it was nearly 70 feet from the cup. He would need three putts to get home, suffering another bogey and dropping to 4-over par.

He did bounce back, however.

Spieth would birdie the par-4 15th hole, then then the par-5 16th hole. That got him back to 2-over par and seemed to get things going in the right direction.

However, he closed his first nine with a bogey on the par-4 18th. That left him with a 3-over par 38.

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Spieth’s second nine was much better. He had seven pars to go with birdies on the par-5 third hole and the par-3 eighth. It all added up to a 1-over par round of 71.

That’s not an awful score but when Spieth finished his round, he was tied for 51st out of the 66-player field. In other words, he’s got a lot of ground to make up. And that’s all because of his slow start on Thursday.

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