A six-hour time zone difference, lack of Old Course knowledge and considerable Grand Slam hype didn't bother Jordan Spieth on Thursday during the opening round of The Open.
He simply did what he has been doing.
Spieth, who won the Masters and the U.S. Open, shot 5-under-par 67 in his first competitive round at the Old Course, which yielded an abundance of low scores in benign conditions.
Dustin Johnson, who finished second to Spieth by a shot when he three-putted the final green at the U.S. Open last month, opened with a 7-under-par 65.
Prior to this week, Spieth, 21, had seen the venerable course just one time during a 2011 casual visit in advance of the Walker Cup, an amateur event. But he got a break as a soft course and favorable but chilly weather led to lots of birdies.
Spieth birdied his first two holes and five of the first seven to shoot 5-under-par 31 at the turn. Another birdie at the 11th had him tied for the lead for a time, his first bogey coming at the par-4 13th.
He made an excellent recovery after hitting into the treacherous Road Hole bunker at the 17th hole, but failed to convert a 4-footer for par to make his second bogey. But he bounced back with a curling birdie putt at the 18th.
This is just the seventh time since the Masters began in 1934 that a player won at Augusta National and at the U.S. Open. Only Ben Hogan in 1953 went on to win The Open in the same year.