Jordan birdied holes 5, 9 and 13 on Thursday during his first round at Augusta National. Watch the videos of hole 5, and hole 13 at Masters.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- What did Jordan Spieth learn in his first ever Masters round?
"You just have so many 40‑footers," he said. "There's nothing you can do about it."
Especially on a day when Augusta National played more than 2 1/2 strokes over par and just 19 players were in red figures.
Spieth was one of them. The 20-year-old shot a 1-under 71 and just three strokes off the lead of Bill Haas after the opening round.
"Knowing the slopes doesn't always mean you know the breaks out here," Spieth continued. "I think what I'll probably do is go back and write down which putts I had, what they did, and how the speed was, compared to what I thought."
Patrick Reed learned a tougher lesson.
A three-time winner by age 23, including at last month's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, he stumbled to the finish in his Masters debut.
After playing his first 15 holes in 2 under alongside Spieth and Rory McIlroy, Reed ended with three straight bogeys to shoot 73. He declined to speak to the media following his round.
McIlroy, at 24 and already a two-time major winner and former world No. 1, made an odd veteran of the group but came away impressed with his playing partners.
"They handled it really well," said McIlroy, who bogeyed the 18th to shoot a 71. "They both had it under par, Jordan finished under par, Patrick didn't have a good finish, but I felt like they played well."