Spieth recovers after “dumbest hole”

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  • June 19, 2015

After an earlier error left him fuming, Jordan Spieth recovered to post a solid 67 in the second round of the US Open.

The 21-year-old Masters champion finished the day on five under par midway through the second day at Chambers Bay, good enough for a share of the lead with overnight leaders Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson – neither of whom had teed off yet.

Spieth started like a house on fire, birdying four of his first eight holes to reach six under par and take the sole lead.

Reaching the 18th – his ninth, the Texan hit the lip of a bunker with his second shot and found more sand with his third shot, eventually carding a double-bogey six.

Spieth was heard on television berating himself for the “dumbest hole I’ve ever played in my life” after his second shot, but he soon regained his composure, bouncing right back with a birdie at the first before a bogey at the seventh was cancelled out by a pinpoint iron into the short ninth for a closing two – and a share of the clubhouse lead.

Spieth is looking to become just the sixth man in history after Craig Wood, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to win the Masters and US Open in the same year – and only the first player since Gene Sarazen in 1922 to win multiple majors aged 21 or younger.

Also doing well in the early running was South African Branden Grace, who briefly held the outright lead but had to settle for a 67 and a four under par total after a closing bogey.

Ben Martin also found himself on a share of the lead on five under par before bogeys at 17 and 18 dropped him back down.

Jason Day was on two under par after a 70. The Australian collapsed to the ground during his second round, apparently suffering from an attack of vertigo.

The incident happened on the ninth, his final hole.

After being attended to by paramedics, he was heard on television saying that the incident was related to “vertigo I’ve had for a while”.

Former World No 1 Tiger Woods, meanwhile, followed up his first-round 80 with a 76. That left him second to last in the field and certain to miss the cut.

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