Masters leaderboard 2015: Jordan Spieth closing in on birdie record at Augusta

For the second time this week, Jordan Spieth has moved to 18-under at the Masters. There have been only three instances of that number appearing on a Masters leaderboard, including Tiger Woods’ record-setting performance in 1997. Spieth birdied two of his first three holes to hit that mark for the second straight day.

Spieth is back to 18-under thanks to his putter -- the hottest club for the hottest player on the planet. Any worry of a nervy start from the 21-year-old was set aside at the very fist hole, when Spieth played the opener perfect from tee-to-green and then poured in a 10-foot putt.

The irony of Spieth’s start is that he didn’t birdie the easiest hole of the beginning stretch. The par-5 2nd hole features the traditional Sunday pin, which accepts and funnels second shots back to the hole. We’ve seen multiple players nearly make albatross there on Sunday and have tap-in eagles for a quick early movement up the board. Spieth put his ball on the back of the green in two, but three-putted for a disappointing par while his playing partner, Justin Rose, drilled his moderate-length birdie putt.

That exchange at the second cut the lead to three, but Spieth got it right back with another fabulous putt at the short par-4 3rd hole. This was another tough putt but the way Spieth is rolling it right now, it was no surprise that he got it to drop.

While the lead is still four shots, Rose is definitely pushing Spieth and forcing him to make birdies early in the round. The Englishman opened with back-to-back birdies to make it game right away.

Rose appears to be the biggest threat to Spieth on Sunday. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s longshot hopes were extinguished early, as they both failed to pick up a red number at the critical par-5 2nd. Rory is even-par and Tiger has actually dropped a shot so he won’t be replicating that first nine magic from Saturday.

Phil Mickelson added a birdie at the 2nd, but he’s still six shots back and the holes are quickly running out.

Aside from the 18-under scoring record now in his sights, Spieth is also well on his way to breaking the birdies record at the Masters. Mickelson set that at 25, and Spieth already has 24 with 14 holes to play.

Here’s the top of the early leaderboard: