KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) – Jordan Spieth made nine birdies Friday with the kind of round that should have put him in contention at the SBS Tournament of Champions.
Except for two holes, he might have been.
Instead, Spieth left Kapalua thinking more about a high finish than a title defense.
He made a double bogey on the par-3 eighth when his ball caught a wicked lie in the bunker and his next shot buried in deep rough. What really irritated him was a bad drive on the 17th, compounded by not getting the right yardage and laying up into a hazard, leading to triple bogey.
“I’ll struggle for the next couple hours getting over 17 kind of throwing me out of the tournament,” Spieth said after his 69. “Just feel like it’s going to be too big of an uphill battle. But I can get myself probably 12- to 14-under par the next two days and finish in the top five. So that becomes the next goal.”