Augusta: Jordan Spieth was holding on to his Masters lead on Day Two on Friday as a stiffening breeze and tough pin positions made birdies hard to come by. Out early, New Zealander Danny Lee had two birdies offset by a double bogey at the third as he stayed at 4-under, two shots off the lead set by Spieth’s 66 on Thursday.
The 22-year-old Texan had an afternoon tee-time as he continues his quest for back-to-back wins at Augusta National. American Ryder Cup captain Davis Love caught the eye early, with three birdies in a row from the third to rise to 2-under, but world number one Jason Day was making no headway with a bogey-birdie start to stay at level.
Scott Piercy also climbed the leaderboard with a birdie at the second to get to 3-under, while Dane Soren Kjeldsen remained at that mark after one hole.
On Thursday, Spieth picked up where he left off 12 months ago with a flawless opening 66, boosting his hopes of becoming just the fourth man to successfully defend the Masters crown.
The Texan, just 21 at the time, was the first wire-to-wire winner in 40 years at Augusta National last year, and his bogey-free opener brought up the possibility he could do so again as he led by two strokes at the end of the first round.
Only Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods have managed back-to-back wins in the Masters.
Spieth was the only player in the 89-strong field not to cough up a bogey on a breezy day. The American, who opened with an eight-under 64 en route to his record-matching victory last year, reached the turn in 31 after birdies at the fourth, sixth and eighth and he added three others down the back nine at 10, 13 and 18.
Taking advantage of fine early playing conditions as the 80th Masters got underway, Spieth was in the clubhouse and able to sit back and see if top rivals Jason Day and Rory McIlroy could keep pace with him during the afternoon’s action.
“I feel like my game has been trending in the right direction, I just haven’t gotten scores out of how I felt I’d been playing,” said Spieth. Underlining the quality of Spieth’s round was the fact that only seven other players were able to score in the 60s.
Adopted New Zealander Danny Lee got closest after a 68, 13 strokes better than in the last round he played at Augusta as an amateur in 2009, and he was joined at 4-under by fast-improving Irishman Shane Lowry. Having missed the cut on his debut last year, Lowry said that he had to stay in the moment and not ger carried away with his opening effort.
Lahiri lies 59th
Meanwhile, Anirban Lahiri held up well in windy weather till a couple of errant shots left him at four-over 76 at the end of the opening round. Lahiri was tied 59th and will need to produce a strong second round to make the cut which falls at 50 plus ties or not more than 10 shots outside the leader.
