Despite enduring "an off-day" with club face contact, Jordan Spieth elbowed his way into the lead on the opening day of the Valero Texas Open.
The 2015 Masters champion began his warm-up for next week at Augusta with a 5-under par round of 67.
Bogeys at 9 and 16 were the only blots on his copybook, with Spieth carding five birdies on his front-nine.
"I had really bad contact today," Spieth said after his opening round in San Antonio, "Normally, even if I don't necessarily strike the ball well, normally I'm hitting it close to the middle of the face.
"I've got all afternoon to figure that out on the range."
Spieth only hit 6 out of 14 fairways on day-1, and only half the greens and feels there's plenty to work on before returning on Friday.
"Yeah, other than 9, I wedged it really well today," Spieth told reporters, "Wedged it better than I did the last couple of events and chipped the ball really well. I didn't have much stress for par after missing greens."
He added, "Yeah, I mean, 5 under around this track's a good score. I'd take four more of them.
"I think tomorrow afternoon it's going to be as challenging as it was this morning, if not more, when we have a little breeze picking up, so I'll be probably chasing somebody around 10 under and just trying to hit fairways and greens."
Graeme McDowell opened with a 2-over par round of 74. Starting on the 10th hole, he made par at fourteen consecutive holes, before back-to-back bogeys at 5 and 6.
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