2016 Masters leaderboard: Jordan Spieth in a familiar position atop the leaderboard

There were a few reasons to think Jordan Spieth might not be at his best at the 2016 Masters. He’s struggled some this year and hasn’t been in the top form he was last summer. On Wednesday he cracked his trusty driver of two years and had to add a last-minute replacement to the bag.

Then the first round started and Spieth immediately made those concerns look ridiculous.

Spieth is once again sitting atop the leaderboard at the Masters. He closed out Amen Corner with a birdie at No. 13 to dip to 5-under on the round and two strokes clear of the field. It’s all been working for Spieth thus far. He’s ripped approach shots near the pin at times to set up birdies, and when things have gone a little errant he’s done a tremendous job to get up and down and save par. He’s yet to make a bogey on the round and was pumped with his par save on No. 12.

It’s been an impressive performance thus far and one that could set Spieth up in ideal position going forward thanks to the timing. Some weather is expected later in the day and conditions could become much more difficult. If Spieth finishes his round off strong, it’s hard to imagine the afternoon wave will be able to make a serious run at him on Thursday if the wind picks up like expected. Instead, the field might spend the rest of the tournament just trying to catch up, not an easy task with the way Spieth plays at Augusta National.

While Spieth has everything working in his Masters defense, Rickie Fowler may have played himself out of the tournament. He opened with a double bogey, but managed to get a couple strokes back. It all unraveled on the back nine, including a triple bogey on No. 13. He sits at 5-over and will have a lot of work to do just to make the weekend.

Here is a snapshot of the current leaderboard. For a live leaderboard, head over to Masters.com.