British Open leaderboard: Jordan Spieth is lighting up St. Andrews

We’re a long way from Chambers Bay, but the two big movers at the British Open were the same names atop that leaderboard at the U.S. Open. Jordan Spieth started his day at St. Andrews with birdies on his first two holes and five in his first seven, while Dustin Johnson began 4-under through his first five holes. As soon as the pairings were announced, we thought we’d have the two prime contenders in this group and Spieth and DJ are putting on a show from the start in Scotland.

The conditions were supposed to be calm on Thursday morning and so far the benign winds have St. Andrews defenseless. David Lingmerth demonstrated early that a record number might be out there when he went out with a 7-under 29, matching the front nine low at St. Andrews. Spieth followed more than an hour later and steadily put his first drive in the fairway. His approach was perfect and he cleaned up a short birdie putt to open his week with a red number.

Spieth has not let up since that opening birdie, striping it down the middle off the tee and stuffing his approach shots close to the pin on these enormous greens. We’ve already had one “best putter in the world” mention on the ESPN broadcast, but he’s leaving it close enough right now that he hasn’t needed to bomb one in on the front nine. After pouring in the putt at the 7th, Spieth hit this absurd mark:

There’s not been one fantastic shot or hole-out for Spieth so far, just a bunch of really good shots and not a single slip-up. Even when he’s not making birdie, he’s lagging it to tap-in distance for par. His 5-under open could have been even better, but let’s not get greedy.

Johnson is right there with him. St. Andrews favors the long hitters and no one is longer than DJ. He made the first eagle of the championship at the 5th hole, one of the only two par-5s on the course.

While Spieth will get all the publicity when people in the US wake up, it’s unlikely DJ relents and he’ll be there on the first page of the leaderboard. The two are the top American talents in the game right now and it’s fun to see them go right back to it just a few weeks removed from Chambers.

One American who is not keeping pace is Tiger Woods, who began his Open by hitting it in the water at the first hole and making back-to-back bogeys to start his championship. Woods looks nothing like the steady player who showed up at the Greenbrier and much more like the mess from the U.S. Open and Memorial. He has yet to hit a good shot and looks poor off the tee, shaky with approach shots, and even missed a short putt to make bogey on that lone par-5 on the front. Nothing should surprise us with Tiger too much anymore but seeing this mess so soon at St. Andrews, a course that should forgive his weaknesses and at least keep his score respectable, is startling. Only Rod Pampling, who has played all 18 already, has a worse score on the board at the moment.

Here’s the early leaderboard with Spieth and DJ approaching the turn: