Late tee time, TV power Jordan Spieth at U.S. Open

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- In the hours leading up to his 2:17 p.m. tee time Thursday, Jordan Spieth wasn't listening to inspirational music or blocking out the world to mentally prepare himself for the first round of the U.S. Open.

Nope, like many golf fans around the world, he was watching the television broadcast.

But this wasn't for fun. With the course setup and conditions of Chambers Bay somewhat unpredictable, Spieth studied how his fellow golfers handled the capricious links-style course and how it was playing.

Later in the afternoon, the reigning Masters champion went out and shot a solid 2-under 68 to put himself in early contention.

With more than half the field finishing over par in the first round, Spieth will gladly take his first round.

"Yeah, I think if I did it three more times, I'd be in really good position come Sunday," he said. "No complaints there."

Did the knowledge acquired from the television watching him help his round?

"I feel like it's very useful, especially at a U.S. Open, more so than maybe any other tournament," he said.

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"It looked like the morning balls were spinning a little bit. I saw a couple of shots, even like 9-irons or full wedges, taking a hop and stop. We didn't have that in our round, but I think (Friday) morning we may have that little bit. I was able to see where some of the pins were, where guys were putting from."

Any kind of advantage is welcomed for the U.S. Open because the courses usually are set up to make par the best score.

And Spieth understood it in his round, not trying to hit at sucker pin placements and relying on quality lag putting for two-putt pars.

"We had some gettable pins, but all in all you have a group of holes where you just have to play to try and two-putt from 40 feet," Spieth said. "And you get a group of holes where you can maybe try and attack it if you hit the right tee shot. And really the key for me today was I had some two-putts from 95 feet, 85 feet, 75 feet, three from 65 feet. Those were just awesome two-putts to keep any kind of momentum going."

But it wasn't all pars for Spieth.

After shooting even par on the front nine with a birdie and a bogey, he got hot on the back nine, ripping off birdies on holes 11, 12 and 13.

On the par-4 11th, his second shot from 190 yards slid past the hole and stopped to four feet for an easy birdie putt.

He easily drove the green on the reachable 317-yard par-4 12th, driving his ball off the narrow side of the green and using the upslope at the back of the green to slow the ball. His eagle putt leaked below the hole, and he settled for a tap-in birdie.

Spieth's length off the tee helped him on the never-ending 528-yard par-4 14th. He bombed a 334-yard drive, leaving him 160 yards to the pin. His second shot left him 17 feet above the hole. Spieth made his best putt of the day on the tricky left to right breaker that rolled right in the middle of the cup.

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But the run of birdies ended when he scrambled to make par with an 8-foot putt.

Spieth gave a stroke back on the par-3 15th known as Lone Fir because the only tree on the course sits behind the hole. Struggling to adjust to the cooler temperatures and increased wind, Spieth was a club short on his tee shot and well to the left, giving him an 80-foot putt. There would be no two-putt par this time. He left himself with a 15-foot par putt that he rolled by for a three-putt bogey.

Like many players, Spieth had some issues with lack of consistent speed with the greens.

"It's interesting because it was a tough adjustment when we got on the course because the green speeds on the course are significantly slower than they are on the practice greens," he said. "And that's tough to adjust to when you've got 40 feet. And if you hit it five feet past the hole, it goes 30 yards away. So I left probably five or six putts three to six feet short just given my speed control as adjusted to the practice green."

Spieth knows three more rounds of 2 under won't be easy.

"I thought today was the most scorable day," he said. "And it's going to get more challenging from here."

This article was written by RYAN DIVISH from Seattle Times and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.