Jordan Spieth in danger of missing the cut in his 1st start since the Masters

While Jason Day was matching the course record on Thursday with a 63 at TPC Sawgrass, Jordan Spieth headed into Friday’s second round of The Players Championship in danger of missing the cut.

At even-par after day one — nine shots behind Day’s 18-hole lead — Spieth faced an uphill battle to climb into contention in his first start since his Masters meltdown. In addition to Day, a surging Rory McIlroy and a host of others going low Friday morning, history also stood between Spieth and the winner’s circle.

“From where he [Spieth] is right now, 72, you would normally say it’s not a bad round,” Golf Channel’s Frank Nobilo said during a Thursday evening review of day one. “But historically he’s out of the event.”

Spieth, who missed The Players cut last year but finished T4 in his 2014 debut, had a strong start to Thursday’s opening round. He got to 3-under through 13 but back-to-back bogeys on his 14th and 15th (Nos. 5 and 6) and a double at the last, the par-5 ninth, knocked him back to 72.

To Nobilo, that seven was a critical number on Spieth’s scorecard.

“You’ve got to go back to 1998 when Justin Leonard won,” Nobilo noted. “He came from tied 44th, he also shot 72. That’s as far back as anyone’s come from.”

Eighteen years later, Spieth and McIlroy began the second round in a tie for 83rd. Midway through Rory’s morning outing — during which he made an eagle and seven birdies, including four straight out of the gate — Jordan had plummeted to a share of 97th and two shots south of the projected cut line.

Spieth will have to wait until the afternoon wave to attempt to climb out of the hole he inexplicably dug for himself.

“I hit it seven times. I hit two fantastic shots, and then not really sure after that,” Spieth said in an attempt to figure out how he tallied a seven on a hole that included hitting his ball out of a green-side bunker into the rough.

“I really only had two bad swings today,” added Spieth. “I’m hitting the ball great, which is what I’ve really been working on the past couple weeks, trying to get more consistent and better ball-striking, better control of it.”

Were it not for that shot from the sand, Nobilo might be touting Spieth to go on a tourney-winning run. But, alas.

“That last hole would have made such a big difference, up and down 69,” said Nobilo. “Everybody would be saying, ‘What a great bounce back.’ A bad bunker shot, all of a sudden it changes.”

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