Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion, is currently tied for the lead with fellow American Patrick Reed at five-under-par after Friday’s second round at this week’s U.S. Open. The 21-year-old American golfing sensation, who rocketed to stardom after winning the green jacket in April is positioned at the top of the leader board once again after his stellar three-under round of 67 on Friday morning.
Spieth carded six birdies, a bogey, and a double bogey on the difficult par-4 18th hole at Chambers Bay en route to his 67. He started his Friday morning firing on all cylinders, making four birdies in his first seven holes. Spieth rolled in an 11-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th to take the lead alone at six-under, but found trouble on the 514 yard 18th when his ball found the rough and the greenside bunker, resulting in his only serious blemish of the day.
According to stats provided by the USGA , Spieth hit 10 out of 14 fairways and 14 out of 18 greens in his second round, and needed only 28 putts to get the ball in the cup.
In his post round interview , Jordan told the media that he would definitely draw back upon his experiences from winning the Masters to help him grind through the weekend, although Spieth did acknowledge that the U.S. Open is a different challenge than the one he had in April.
“I’ll probably draw a significant amount off of it. It’s playing different, and I’m in a very different position. I’m not going to have whatever it was, a 4, 5-shot lead. So given it’s a US Open, I imagine they’re going to try to bring us back to par, at least that’s what it seems. It’s going to be somewhat hard to bring us back to par if we still have this perfect weather. But I know that it’s going to get tougher and tougher now that Saturday and Sunday hits.”
Spieth, currently ranked number two in the world, will have his sights set on his second major championship victory heading into the weekend. He and co-leader Patrick Reed will tee off in the final group on Saturday’s third round. If he does manage to raise the coveted trophy come Sunday afternoon, Spieth will join the likes of Nicklaus and Woods as one of the few players in the past half century who have won both the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same calendar year
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)