During Thursday’s opening round of the Valero Texas Open, Jordan Spieth was sitting at 4-over with three holes to play. His last chance to get into proper form before The Masters was quickly slipping away.
Then came the par-3 16th.
Spieth hit the perfect shot from 199 yards out, notching a hole in one and electrifying the San Antonio crowd. He followed that up with a birdie on 17 to close at 1-over and above the projected cut line after day one.
The Texas native’s tee shot also earned him a new Lexus.
Well, Golf Channel writer Rex Hoggard took to social media and showed just what Spieth’s friend, Rickie Fowler, thought to do about it.
Fowler is captured signing his name on the windshield with Spieth inside. Nothing like a sharpie on your new car from a friend razzing you.
Spieth then carried that momentum from the end of Thursday’s round into Friday. He began his day on 10 and picked up four birdies in his first five holes to jolt up the board.
He ultimately carded a 4-under 68 to climb 70 spots on the leaderboard. Spieth now sits tied for 10th as of this writing and is sure to be pleased heading into the weekend.
Incidentally, despite the rough opening round, the three-time major champion has felt pretty strong about his game of late.
“I’m playing so much better than I’ve been scoring and it doesn’t like look like it. It’s hard to explain,” Spieth said after Thursday’s round.
“I’ve played way worse and had consecutive top-10s than the missed cuts that I’ve had. It’s just very bizarre. Like my game feels fine and I’m just not getting much out of it.”
He certainly got plenty out of it Friday.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
