Different tournament, same top spot for Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth ended Day 1 of the Hero World Challenge on Thursday in the same place he ended his last tournament: atop the leaderboard.

Four days after becoming the first American in 21 years to win the Australian Open, Spieth shot a 6-under 66 at Isleworth Golf & Country Club to lead the 18-man event in Orlando by a shot over four players, including Henrik Stenson (who won in his last start at the DP World Tour Championship), semi-retired Steve Stricker, Rickie Fowler and defending World Challenge champion Zach Johnson.

The 21-year-old Texan had a solid start with birdie, but made his run at the end of the opening nine with four consecutive birdies to go out in 31 — 10 shots better than host Tiger Woods. The second nine began with a flurry, too, with a pair of birdies in the first four holes of the side, as well Spieth’s only bogey of the day.

However, Spieth probably best showed his ability and rapid maturity on the tough par-4 finishing hole. Spieth’s approach shot was unlucky, striking a sprinkler head short of the green and bouncing over and right of the green. Left with a tough shot to a tight hole location, Spieth left it 12 feet short of the hole. The confident world No. 11 then rolled in the right-to-left putt to save par and take a lead into the second round.

The 66 in Florida follows up an astounding 8-under 63 to close out a six-stroke win at the Aussie Open. However great those last two rounds have been, only one counts this week, and Spieth has nine pursuers within three shots. For Spieth to end 2014 with back-to-back wins, he’ll have to keep up the pace.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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