Spieth’s spectacular 64 gives him a three-stroke Masters lead

Ernie Els is playing in his 21^st Masters. Jordan Spieth is 21.

They best represent a generational leaderboard in the 79^th Masters Tournament topped by the face of the next generation of American golf.

Spieth made nine birdies and shot an 8-under-par 64 and Els is one of four players closest to him following a 67 after one of the better scoring days at Augusta National Golf Club in recent years.

“It's one of the better rounds I've ever played,” Spieth said. “To make nine birdies out here, you know, that's a dreamy round for me. It was a lot of fun.”

He leads by three over Els, Justin Rose, Jason Day and Charley Hoffman, and Sergio Garcia and Russell Henley are four back.

Spieth, who left college without status on any pro tour and played his way onto the PGA Tour last year, has made quite an impression in a short time on his fellow touring pros.

“He’s special,” said Els, 45. “Jordan is 21, and what a player. You just cannot see this kid not win many, many majors. I think he is by far the most balanced kid I've seen.”

Spieth can make an even greater impression on the world of golf with a Masters title.

“It leaves your name in history and a legacy, and the hardest thing to do is to put that behind you when you start on the first hole, I think,” Spieth said.

Trevor Immelman in 2008 is the only 18-hole leader who has gone on to win the Masters in the past 31 years, though the last nine winners have been in the top 10 after the first round.

“It’s early right now and I don’t want to think about anything else than getting back on the first tee tomorrow and trying to shoot a good score,” Spieth said.

Spieth is the youngest 18-hole Masters leader by about three months, supplanting world No. 1 Rory McIlroy at 21 years and 8 months.

But Spieth has his competitors’ attention, considering he has a win and pair of runner-ups in his past three events. “Jordan's playing phenomenal golf,” Day said. “That stretch of golf that he's played over the last 11, 12 events is just amazing, and I think everyone knows that he's the one to beat this week.”

Four-time Masters winner Tiger Woods shot a 73 in his first tournament in two months, Coastal Carolina alumnus Dustin Johnson and three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson are among six players tied for 12^th at 70, and McIlroy, who can complete the career Grand Slam with a win this week, shot a 1-under 71 and is tied for 18th. He was 1 over before birdies on the back-nine par-5s.

“I feel with the way I'm driving the ball, if I can keep doing that and just be a little more patient with my iron play and give myself more opportunities, I'll hope to be right there at the end of the week,” McIlroy said.

Thirty players are under par and another 10 are even par among a field of 97. Greens that were receptive and a tad slow compared to their usual quickness aided scoring.

“The greens are soft, so if you’re hitting good iron shots you can keep it close to the hole,” Rose said. “Putting is always difficult around here. … but more than anything it’s that the greens are soft.”

The course will almost assuredly become more firm and difficult, weather permitting, over the next three days. “I don't see it being like that for the rest of the week,” Day said.

No one else took advantage of the conditions like Spieth. His most ridiculous shot of a tremendous round came on the 14^th, where he was in the far right rough and had to cut his 175-yard approach around a tree. He hit the flag on two bounces, the ball coming to rest 18 inches away.

Standing in the fairway on the par-5 15^th at 8 under, he over-clubbed to be safe and avoid water fronting the green, flew the green and made bogey. “I looked at a scoreboard and maybe tried to press a little there,” Spieth said. He rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18^th to get back to 8 under.

In what might be a shock to the rest of the field, Spieth doesn’t believe he struck the ball all that well. “I didn't drive the ball particularly well, didn't strike the ball great,” he said. “I got some good breaks and capitalized on some really good breaks today.”

While Spieth has just one year of Masters baggage, having lost a two-stroke lead to Bubba Watson with 11 holes to play last year, Els has a two-decade career full.

The two-time winner of both the U.S. Open and British Open has finished second at Augusta twice – in 2000 to Vijay Singh and 2004 to Phil Mickelson, who birdied five of the last seven holes including the 18^th for a one-shot win and his first major title.

Els hasn’t finished in the top 10 at Augusta since, and believes the close loss had a lingering impact.

“I was trying to wipe it under the carpet that I wanted this one so badly for so many years; definitely, there was something going on,” said Els, whose 67 was his first Masters opening round in the 60s. “You kind of get fed up with yourself. Never with Augusta, you know, but yourself with the mistakes that you make. I felt that I left shots out there in that span, that five‑, six‑year span. So a little frustration set in there “

And while Spieth, a two-time PGA Tour winner who also had wins late last year in the Australian Open and Woods’ Hero World Challenge by a combined 16 shots, has been hot the entire year, Els has struggled woefully. He has missed four cuts in seven events with just one top-45 finish.

“It’s been kind of a rough ride this year,” said Els, who has had success with a lighter driver shaft he installed Wednesday. “There's been no sign of any form, so [the first round] has just been very special.”

Rose, who has won on the PGA Tour in each of the past three years, including the 2013 U.S. Open, has been similarly scuffling, with three missed cuts in six events and no top-35 finishes. But his best finish came last week with a tie for 37^th in the Shell Houston Open.

“My form hasn’t been great this year so far, but I’m kidding myself into thinking that the season’s all about from April to September,” Rose said.

Rose has been the first-round Masters leader three times, but has just one top-20 finish those years, a tie for fifth in 2007. He had another top-10 with a tie for eighth in 2012.

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Spieth’s spectacular 64 gives him a three-stroke Masters lead."