Patrick Reed closes with eagle, leads Jordan Spieth by 1 at TOC
The first round of the new year on the PGA Tour was not an encore for Jordan Spieth, nor was it for defending champion Patrick Reed.
Spieth had said earlier in the week that an encore means the show is over, and it sure didn't look that way at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He opened with seven birdies and no bogeys for a 7-under 66 that left him one shot behind when Reed finished strong and made a 15-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole for a 65.
Go figure, Jordan Spieth is leading a golf tournament. Thanks to a 9–under 64 Friday, Spieth will take a four-shot lead into the weekend at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Here’s how the No. 1 player in the world took control at Kapalua:
Jordan Spieth routs field in Hyundai Tournament of Champions
Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods have become inseparable, joined at the clip at which each took over the golf world at the outset of their careers.
Spieth won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Sunday in a dominant fashion that once more evoked memories of Tiger in his youth. It was Spieth’s seventh PGA Tour victory, two of which have been majors, several months before his 23rd birthday. At a similar age, Woods had seven victories, one of them a major.
The comparisons are irresistible, a way of charting Spieth’s progress against the incomparable standard set by Woods. They’re inevitable, perhaps, but are they prudent?