Ace has Spieth a shot behind the pace at the Hero World Challenge
Defending Hero World Challenge champion Jordan Spieth got off to a great start on Thursday at Albany in the Bahamas, and it carried him to finish Day 1 within a shot of the leaders in the 18-player event.
On the 172-yard second hole, Spieth hit a perfect 6-iron that landed just short of the hole, rolling right up to the cup and dropping for an ace with its last revolution. The eagle got Spieth to 2 under par early in the round. From there, Spieth played 3-under golf the rest of the way, carding a 5-under 67 that has him trailing Jimmy Walker, Zach Johnson and Paul Casey by one.
The ace was the second in the last three months for the two-time 2015 major winner. Spieth made an ace, also with a 6-iron, during Round 2 of the BMW Championship in September during the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Half of the field is within two shots of the lead, and every player but one finished under par on Thursday. The only over-par player was Hideki Matsuyama, who shot 3-over 75 after a quadruple-bogey 8 on the finishing hole
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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