Hero World Challenge: Jordan Spieth starts well; Anirban Lahiri steady

On a day world number one and defending champion Jordan Spieth punctuated proceedings with a hole in one, Lahiri hit four birdies against one dropped shot on the narrow, sand dune dominated course. It was a composed performance and will have calmed whatever nerves he could have been feeling at the tee-off.

“I missed a couple of makeable eagle putts on the sixth and 15th and I had a couple of unlucky bounces including on the ninth, but overall I was happy with my play,” Lahiri said, adding, “It was fun playing with Jordan. I have played with him before at the WGC-HSBC in 2014, at a time when I was trying to get into top-50. We have been pretty good friends.”

Three golfers led the way with six-under par scores including Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker and Paul Casey. Playing in a mild breeze blowing off the sea, the 18-man field by and large had low scores, as predicted by tournament host Tiger Woods the previous day. Only Hideki Matsuyama (75) failed to break par on the day.

Bunched in a group of five one shot off the pace was Jordan on 76 with Bubba Watson, who had something of a rollercoaster ride and Adam Scott, an Albany resident and who owns the course record of 65.

Besides his ace on the second hole, a par-3, Spieth had a run of birdies highlighted by his trademark accuracy with the putter. Talking of the hole-in-one, Spieth said, “It was a cool start to the day. It was a 6-iron like 175-ish playing about 10 yards further with the wind so I needed to take a little off of it. Absolutely flushed it right at the hole and didn’t think it went in.

“I started walking because balls have been sticking on the green so I thought it just stuck, but I guess it just crept forward that extra two feet. With very few people watching, you don’t know if it’s really close or in when they cheer and then you look up and the ball disappeared. So it’s cool, it’s cool to have. Holes-in-ones are pretty awesome.”

Added Casey, who is yet to win a tournament in 2015, “The only blemish I can think of is maybe I left a putt short on line, which is a little criminal. Other than that, I played some really, really nice golf.”

Walker had as many as eight birdies, six of them coming in a row on the back nine, while Johnson made a late charge up the leaderboard as did Scott, the affable Australian who rarely strayed off the narrow fairways.