Tag

The 21-year-old from Devon carried on from where he left off with eight birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in an opening 64 at Kingsbarns, which was matched by Irish team-mate Paul Dunne, whose memorable day also included a hole-in-one on the 15th.

The next major will be the PGA Championship, which will take place at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Kohler, Wisconsin.

Behind Spieth, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington — a two-time British Open champion and three-time major victor — sits on 10-under.

Johnson was runner-up at the British Open in Sandwich in 2011 while the year before he was leading the U.S. PGA at Whistling Straights with one hole to play but was denied a play-off after being docked two shots for a rules infringement when he grounded his club in a bunker.

“Yeah, mate, I’m happy”, he said.

Johnson outlasted Marc Leishman and his good friend Louis Oosthuizen in a four hole playoff to win the 2015 British Open at St. Andrew’s.

As he crossed the Swilcan Bridge on No. 18, Spieth was serenaded with “The Eyes of Texas” from fans and he could see his name on the iconic yellow scoreboard at the home of golf. The more of a challenge the elements pose, goes the thinking, the better.

The onus was firmly on Spieth to light up this Championship once Rory McIlroy pulled out injured and he has delivered, but some of the biggest names in golf now provide a stellar cast for the final act on this hallowed Scottish links course. It also marked the turning point in...