Jordan Spieth in move to emulate Rory McIlroy

Masters champion Jordan Spieth made his move towards back-to-back major victories as he claimed a share of the early second-round US Open clubhouse lead at Chambers Bay last night.

The world number two shot a three-under-par 67 to move to five under par in his bid to follow his great rival Rory McIlroy, the Open and PGA champion, by completing consecutive majors wins. In Spieth’s case he is looking for a Masters-US Open double which would put him in an elite group containing Tiger Woods (2002), Jack Nicklaus (1972), Arnold Palmer (1960), Ben Hogan (1951, 1953) and Craig Wood (1941).

On another benign day by the shores of Puget Sound near Tacoma, Washington, the championship was living up to its reputation for offering gruelling examinations of its participants albeit on a distinctly different course from the USGA norm.

This eight-year-old links was indeed testing golfers’ patience, any moisture in the course that had come from light overnight rain soon disappearing as the morning wave of starters continued to negotiate firm and fast fairways and greens that favoured the early birds but were still crusting nonetheless.

Spieth, who started the day in a tie for seventh after a two-under-par 68, quickly made inroads with four birdies in his first eight holes from the 10th tee to the overnight lead shared at five under by Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson, whose 65s had set the early pace on Thursday morning, one shot clear of Patrick Reed.

Yet even the 21-year-old Spieth, whose green jacket victory at Augusta National in April was credited in part to his impressive unflappability, was not above losing his cool as his fast start was temporarily derailed by a double-bogey six at the 18th, the USGA deciding to switch the hole from a par five to a par four with the first hole going the other way.

Jordan Spieth is not a fan of the 18th. https://t.co/lIbHzY8f6r

— Trevor Reaske (@TrevorReaske) June 19, 2015

“This is the dumbest hole I’ve ever played in my life....unbelievably stupid,” Spieth was heard muttering, his words picked up by an on-course microphone as he dropped to four under. The young American though is renowned for his ability to bounce back from adversity and he did just that with a birdie at the par-five first.

Spieth dropped another shot at the par-four seventh but once again rebounded in fine style, with a birdie at the ninth after play had been temporarily halted for medical staff to attend to playing partner Jason Day.

Day was right in contention at three under when the Australian collapsed as he walked towards a greenside bunker at the ninth, his final hole. Day, whose season has been affected by still unexplained dizzy spells, was complaining of vertigo as he was treated where he fell. He somehow returned to play, albeit clearly unstable on his feet as he walked into the bunker, taking a knee and a drink of water on the way. Day then asked a rules official to remove a stone close to his ball under local rules before producing a great shot onto the green, the Australian two-putting for a remarkable bogey and a 70 to remain on two under before being led off the course by medics to a waiting cart.

With Stenson and Johnson, as well as world number one McIlroy – starting at two over - not due out on the course for their second rounds until late last night, Spieth was just one of several early starters to throw their name into the mix at the top of the leaderboard.

Branden Grace and Ben Martin had both joined the overnight leaders on five under only to fade down the stretch, South African Grace bogeying the 18th to card a three-under 67 which leaves him at four under heading into the weekend. Martin would finish bogey-bogey to fall back to three under alongside Holland’s Joost Luiten (69) and American qualifiers Daniel Summerhays (67) and Tony Finau (68).

Leading Irishman Shane Lowry had got to two under playing some excellent golf only to fall back to level par with a double bogey at the 14th after seeing his long putt there pass the flag and roll off the green into a sand trap. A finishing birdie at 18, though keeps him in touch with the leaders, his level 70 leaving him at one under.

McIlroy had some work to do, starting from two over par and needing to start converting the chances he had been creating for himself only to fail with the putter in round one, as does Graeme McDowell, starting his second round at four over, with only survival in mind as looked to stay inside the cut line initially projected to fall at five over.

At the wrong end of the leaderboard, the travails of Tiger Woods were still evident as the former number one slipped closer to the halfway exit door.

Woods had begun his second round at 10 over par following his worst round in 19 US Open appearances.

The three-time US Open winner had looked lost on Thursday night as he laboured to a score of 80, his game in disarray as he continues to make swing changes under new coach Chris Como.

It was Woods’s third round of 80 or above this season following an 82 in Phoenix at the Waste Management Open and an 85 two weeks ago in the third round of the Memorial Tournament having posted just one in the previous 1241 rounds as a professional.

That had come in the 2002 Open Championship at Troon, an 81 that he could at least write off as an aberration on a day of appaling weather conditions on the Scottish links.

This time around, Woods’s US Open first round was merely yet another sign of a once dominant golfer in perilous decline, eight years removed from his 14th and most recent major victory at the 2008 US Open.

“The bright side is at least I kicked Rickie’s butt today,” Woods had joked after outscoring playing partner Rickie Fowler by a stroke.

Nor did yesterday’s second round get off to a convincing start as he bogeyed his opening hole, the par-four 10th. Remarkably after a day when he had found just six of 13 fairways off the tee, Woods’s tee shot was a good one. Alas for the American his second shot was as disastrous as any from the previous day, missing the green 20 yards to left and sending the ex-champion up a steep slope in search of his ball, Woods’s misery compounded as he lost his footing on the dry grass.

It might have preceded even more disaster but the Tiger actually stayed on a relatively even keel, which is not what it was for Woods these days, signing for a six-over 76 that sent him to 16 over par, level with his immediate successor as US Open champion Lucas Glover, the 2009 winner, with Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke a shot further back on 17 over after signing for an 80.

Fowler joined them in departing early, last season’s best majors performer with four top-five finishes adding to that nightmare first round with a 73 to finish on 14 over par. Yet it was still good enough to kick Tiger’s butt.