Jim Furyk once wrenched his neck tossing back a couple of Advil. David Duval burned his hand boiling hot water for tea. Geoff Ogilvy cut his hand on coral exiting the ocean after a swim in Maui.

Jordan Spieth, one of the 20 players in this week’s $4.5 million Hero World Challenge, reinjured his left wrist at home in Dallas after the Ryder Cup. It was while doing the most mundane task.

“I was very shocked when I reinjured it,” Spieth said Tuesday at Albany Club. “I was reaching for a toaster to make my son breakfast and I was just supporting it on the shelf.”

Boom. He had to shut down practice for a couple of weeks. Spieth originally injured his wrist in 2018, and the problem flared up again in May prior to the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. It turns out that the problem stems from an issue with his ulnar nerve that radiates from his shoulder down to his hand.

“I wasn’t doing anything either time that I hurt it that should have caused what happened,” added Spieth, 30, who won the Hero in 2013. “Both MRIs were very similar and shouldn’t have been in the pain and lack of mobility that I had initially after it happened. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense off the MRIs, and so then just did a bunch of tests and some work. Turns out it was my ulnar nerve, which is not anything to mess with, so I’ve been trying to take it very, very carefully.

“It [his wrist] took the fall for other things that were off, and it just made no sense because I’m like, ‘What’s going to prevent this from happening at any other point in time?’ And now I’m out two-plus weeks, so I feel good about that not being the case going forward.”

Getting a proper diagnosis has Spieth optimistic about his game going forward, provided he manages the issue properly as far as maintaining flexibility and managing workouts or practice. With his wrist gaining strength, he is able to support the club better throughout his swing.

“There are wrist positions, timing elements, where you do want to look back and say this was a weapon for me when I set the club this way,” he explained. “I don’t think I realized how limited or unable I was to hold certain forearm and wrist positions for a while when I originally injured it in 2018 until recently when I’ve been on top of it, and have actually started to for the first time in a long time match swings … or at least positions that I’m trying to hit and how they feel to me and what they produce when I start to do them over and over again.

“Is that fully there this week? No. Is it very, very close? Am I doing it on the majority of swings? Yes. And it’s extremely exciting and it makes me think, you know, staying on top of this I can get to structurally doing what I need to be doing to be at my best.”

Spieth, ranked 16th in the world, is gearing up for a busy year in 2024. He agreed to take over for Rory McIlory on the PGA Tour Policy Board after McIlroy decided to vacate his seat for the remaining year of his term. Spieth, in fact, volunteered for the role, provided it was understood that he would do so for just one year.

The Texas native, winner of 13 tour titles, including three majors, but without a victory in 2023, said he has been fairly heavily involved in tour affairs since June, when commissioner Jay Monahan announced the framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. He has been in the loop on calls and meetings and was not going to need a lot of time to get up to speed on the tour’s negotiations with PIF and other potential investors.

“If it requires a little bit more time and that takes away from time other places temporarily, seems like a very important time to do so right now,” Spieth said. “It’s nice because it’s not a full term, which I had said that I wasn’t interested in for the time being given two little ones now and trying to get my game where I want it. But I think that this is a pivotal moment in time for professional golf and the PGA TOUR and I felt like I could be of help.”

Image: David Cannon

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Spieth, 30, has previously served on the board, both as a representative on the Player Advisory Council and as a player director. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan notified membership that Spieth will join Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Peter Malnati and Charley Hoffman for the rest of McIlroy’s term, which runs through 2024.

The news comes a week after McIlroy’s surprise resignation from the board and amid the tour’s discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Monahan addressed his membership in a memo last week asserting the tour’s conversations with PIF remain ongoing despite rumors that they may be falling apart. “Progress has been deliberate given the complex nature of the potential agreement, and we will keep you apprised of the progress, with continued input and direction from your player directors and player advisor Colin Neville,” Monahan wrote.

McIlroy served as the de facto face of the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf over the past two years. Along with Tiger Woods, he spearheaded a player-led initiative in the summer of 2022 that restructured the tour’s schedule and saved it from further player exodus. McIlroy admitted that putting himself out there in the game’s civil war took an emotional and physical toll, a toll McIlroy said he was still reckoning with this year. Explaining his decision resign to reporters last week at the DP World Tour’s season finale, McIlroy said, “It just got to the point where I couldn’t fit it all in.”

“I’m thinking as we go into the next year, as I try to get ramped up for Augusta and all those tournaments, I just can’t see me putting the time the energy into it,” McIlroy said last week while playing in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “If I feel like I’m not prepared going into those meetings then it is better off if someone else takes my place, who is able to put the time and energy into it.

“There’s only so many hours in the day and so many days in the week and I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now. Between trying to be a world-class golfer and a good husband and a good father. I’ve got a growing investment that’s taking up more of my time.”

Image: Mike Ehrmann

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What Greller witnessed was a microcosm of what went down in Rome. Though a spirited Sunday charge was entertaining, it proved to be nothing more than the scenic route to the inevitable, as the Americans once again fell big on the road and were left wondering where to go from here.

“You know, right now everything is extremely surreal and almost foggy. For me to come up and devise some sort of plot of how to change or alter or whatever you want to call it, I wouldn’t even know where to start right now,” Johnson said after his team’s 16½-11½ defeat. “I know I’ll reflect. It’s natural when you have something of this magnitude.”

Make no doubt, this was a tour-de-force performance from Europe. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood were who we thought they were and more, and any player with a question mark next to his name delivered an answer with vigour. Captain Luke Donald and his assembled crew have earned their flowers. And yet, as the sun dances behind the skyline of the Eternal City to send this match into the past, this feels like a Ryder Cup that was lost as much as it was won.

RELATED: Rickie Fowler conceded the Cup-clinching putt and the golf world had questions

The first knock was delivered before the matches began with an undisclosed virus making its way through the US locker room and knocking out several players something fierce. That could partially explain why the US stumbled in foursomes Friday morning, and by “stumbled” we mean getting swept for the first time ever in the opening session. There was a window Friday afternoon where the Americans had a chance for a 3-1 session victory; instead in every potential winning match the US watched their opponents celebrate on the 18th green, leaving with just 1½ points. Saturday morning was more of the same, lowlighted by Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka—arguably the two best American players—suffering the worst loss in Ryder Cup history, 9 and 7. Entering Saturday afternoon the Europeans held a seven-point advantage.

Richard Heathcote

Through the first three sessions, Johnson was no cheerleader. He tried to play it cool, or as cool as Zach Johnson can appear. He stressed he wasn’t worried, that he had faith in his guys in his room, that they are not a bunch that needs encouragement. That Johnson was gone and in his place was a captain insisting their fate had not been decided. He clapped, he cheered, he shouted. It was the type of frenetic energy one has when buying a couch too wide to fit through the front door, refusing to acknowledge a truth that can’t be adjusted.

The thing is … it kind of worked, the Americans finally winning a session. Yet it was undercut by Johnson relaying, in his words, “data” to Spieth on the 16th tee, and though Spieth is responsible for ultimately hitting the shot, Johnson’s ploy backfired. It was far from the only instance where Johnson’s strategy failed.

RELATED: The Ryder Cup is broken, and there’s no easy fix

There were the captain’s picks, perhaps one of the most consequential responsibilities of the job. Johnson’s six selections went 4-12-4 on the week. He inserted Rickie Fowler in the Friday morning lineup, which looks curious given rumours that Fowler was under the weather and made worse by the fact he didn’t play at all Saturday. Johnson went with Sam Burns and Scheffler despite their rough Presidents Cup together and that analytics don’t paint them as the most compatible grouping. In the end, the buddy-buddy pairing produced unfriendly results. Meanwhile, Johnson kept riding Spieth despite Spieth looking lost with his game and himself.

On Sunday night Johnson chalked up most of the carnage to sticking to his pre-week game plan rather than adjusting to how the Ryder Cup was playing out. He then admitted he “should have listened to his gut” more yet also didn’t know what that would have meant.

“There’s something to be said about observing and witnessing that helps your decision process, and then you include everything else and you try to find every possible scenario so that you can score points,” Johnson said. “I would say that it’s pretty evident that the other team did a better job of that, certainly the first two or three—first three sessions. I think it’s really that simple.”

RELATED: Ryder Cup 2023 updates: Europe closes out 16½-11½ win at Marco Simone

It was a confusing end to an uninspiring captainship.

Jamie Squire

The blame is not Johnson’s alone. Putting continues to be the bane of Scottie Scheffler’s existence but the rest of his game wasn’t particularly great en route to a 0-2-2 record. The World No. 1 was outscored by Europe’s Robert MacIntyre, who according to DataGolf’s true strokes gained has been worse than several Korn Ferry Tour players over the past six months. Xander Schauffele was supposed to be one of the rocks for the US; instead, Schauffele’s game was crushed to pieces, failing to log a single point Friday or Saturday. Wyndham Clark was second in automatic qualifying but was statistically the worst player this weekend. Justin Thomas failed to prove his critics wrong, finishing 21st out of the 24 players in strokes gained. Fowler conceded the winning putt to Fleetwood, which, depending on your perspective, is either a lack of competitive fire or recognition of the moment.

The problems extended past the playing roster. Europe was surgical with its vice captains, utilizing a mix of peers and elders and heroes as their helping hands. The US went with the same uncles they trot out at every team event, voices while respected are essentially of the same voice. The lack of cohesion by the PGA Tour and PGA of America—which has not improved in the months since the surprise framework agreement between the tour and Saudi Arabia—continues to be an issue, with most American players having five competitive weeks off before Rome while their European counterparts played less than 14 days ago.

“You know, clearly our start Friday, the entire day Friday, was not what we were looking to do. And it’s really hard to come back in an away game when you fall so far behind,” Spieth said. “I’ve been a part of that before. So I would say like, you know, I think if you ask—I think maybe if I rephrase the question, if you asked us when we would like to play the Ryder Cup relative to our schedule, I think we would probably say, give us a week after the Tour Championship or two weeks after and then go, instead of five.”

It’s fair to wonder how bad the result could have been had the Americans not received a jolt of life thanks to a report about team fracture and protest staged by Patrick Cantlay, a report the Americans denied and rallied around. And to their credit, the Americans made it interesting on Sunday and seemed to give a damn. But these are professionals and the stakes are too high and emotions are too invested to take solace in moral victories, and “interesting” doesn’t mean much when the final result is still a blowout.

Worse, it is an outcome that lends itself to the same existential questions that have been recycled for the better part of three decades. Variations of the above could be said for almost any away loss since 1993, give or take a post-match mutiny or two. The characters change but the story remains the same, task forces be damned. It is an outcome that threatens the integrity of the event, because instead of asking why the US can’t solve its road problem perhaps the ask should be if it can be solved. The home team has now won eight of the last nine and 11 of the last 13 Ryder Cups, with an average winning scoring margin of five points.

Johnson and his boys made plenty of mistakes, but it’s fair to wonder if they even had a chance. Because winning on the road requires the road team to be flawless and golf isn’t a game of perfect.

Should the trend continue there will be a storm on the horizon. At times each side has held the conch of power, but for it to swing so dramatically and conclusively every two years is not a rivalry; it’s the byproduct of a broken apparatus. Which will be fine for United States fans, because 2025 will be at Bethpage Black, and the result will make many believe the team has finally figured it out. Then it comes back to Europe in 2027, and the same crisis will return because the Ryder Cup is trapped in a perpetual time loop. This doesn’t mean the Ryder Cup lacks excitement or importance or heart. It just means it’s not a sporting event, because in sporting events the outcome is always in doubt. The Ryder Cup is proving itself to be nothing more than an exhibition, and that’s the most dispiriting problem of all.

Main image: Ramsey Cardy

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Jordan Spieth and his wife Annie welcomed the baby girl, their second child, on September 12, enabling the three-time major champion to compete for the US in his fifth Ryder Cup this week at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

It was all part of a plan, though one, apparently, that had little to do with Spieth’s appearance in the 44th Ryder Cup.

US captain Zach Johnson, who made Spieth one of his six wildcard picks for the 12-man team, said he wasn’t concerned about Spieth’s participation, “given pieces of information Spieths have let me in on, I think my confidence was pretty high”.

Spieth, 30, didn’t elaborate much further during his press conference on Tuesday. Asked if there was ever any doubt he would be here, the Texan replied: “Not unless things didn’t go well but not as far as timing.

“I guess we were safe, but I don’t really want to get personal. I was not prioritising my child’s birth to happen at a certain time because of the Ryder Cup, but we knew it was going to happen because of certain reasons.”

With Sophie’s arrival imminent, Spieth was one of three Americans who did not venture to Italy for a two-day scouting trip on September 9-10. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele also opted out.

“It’s not ideal to stay home when you’re preparing for a massive tournament, but I needed to be home,” Spieth said. “Thankfully, they’re all doing great.”

After staying in Dallas, Spieth’s preparation leading into this week included reviewing copious notes supplied by his regular wingman, Justin Thomas. On Monday, his first look at Marco Simone, he said he “flew around the front nine in a cart in an hour and five minutes” with his caddie Michael Greller, and then the US team played the back nine on Tuesday. Spieth was grouped with Thomas, Cantlay and Schauffele in what almost certainly will constitute half of the starting line-up for the Americans in Friday morning’s opening foursomes session.

Participating in his ninth team event since his debut in the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, Spieth is making his third start in Europe for the US, having competed in 2014 at Gleneagles, in Scotland, and 2018 at Le Golf National in Paris. Only Rickie Fowler, who is playing in his fourth Ryder Cup overseas, has more road experience (2010, ’14 and ’18).

Spieth’s career record in the Ryder Cup is 8-7-3, which includes a 5-3-1 record in hostile territory, which, by the way, is a challenge he appears to savour.

“At home we talk about the away Ryder Cups more than we talk about the home ones like with friends,” said Spieth, whose three majors include the 2017 Open Championship. “It’s unique because it’s one of the only times the majority of people watching you are rooting against you for golf. And that happens in half the games for other sports, but for us it’s once every couple years as an American with Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

“So these are very unique, and I try to remember that coming in and really embrace that and try to have a lot of fun with it because although they are rooting against you to make putts, they are very educated and fantastic crowds that if you have fun with, they will have fun with you. So I’ve had a lot of great memories from my two away Ryder Cups before and hope to generate some more this week.”

Fortunately, he’ll get that chance.

So, yes, Sophie Spieth is a Ryder Cup baby. Her father will be happy to tell her why.

“In a way I guess she always will be,” Spieth said with a distinctly whimsical air. “As she gets older, she’ll figure that out on her own and hopefully be aware of that because of when she was born, and I think that will be a fun thing for us to share. I’m glad I don’t have to tell her that we had her at a certain time just so I can play in the Ryder Cup. But it worked out. It’s great to be here, and I can’t wait to tell her about it.”

Main image: Mike Ehrmann

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At Hoylake in July, Jordan Spieth put US golf fans on notice when he revealed the due date for he and wife Annie’s second child was the week before the 2023 Ryder Cup. He expressed hope everything would line up, but if things ran a little off schedule, Spieth’s availability at Marco Simone would be in question. Anybody who knows anything about Spieth’s Ryder Cup heroics over the years also knows that would have been a big problem for Zach Johnson and co.

Then earlier this month, Spieth was notably absent from the US team’s scouting trip to Rome, further fanning the flames. Thankfully for both America and the Spieth family as a whole, on Tuesday the couple announced the arrival of little Sophie, happy, healthy and just in the nick of time. Everybody in Stars and Stripes exhale.

Welcome, Sophie
9/12/23 ? pic.twitter.com/C7YlZwtjAm

— Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) September 19, 2023

Now our thoughts turn to new mum Annie, who will be holding down the fort while Spieth heads to front lines next week. Their first-born Sammy turns three in November, and with a newborn now in the mix, things are bound to be a little chaotic. Not that a little chaos ever bothered Jordan Spieth …

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All hail Jordan Spieth, who just gave every golf enthusiast a lifetime hall pass. It turns out, ladies and gentlemen, that a surefire way to play better golf is to play more golf. Who knew? If it’s good enough for a three-time major winner, then it’s good enough for the rest of us.

Spieth cobbled together a seven-under-par 63 on Thursday at TPC Southwind to forge a one-stroke lead in the FedEx St Jude Championship. It was a rather tidy round, too, notwithstanding the squishy turf from more than two inches of rain the previous 24 hours that provided a tell-tale sign who played well and who didn’t. Slacks with a minimum of mud stains generally indicated considerable time spent on fairways and greens. (Jon Rahm had mud splattered up to his knees; he shot three-over, so, there you go.)

Spieth was bogey-free with 15 greens hit in regulation and 24 putts the highlights of his day. He ranked second in strokes gained/tee to green. He chipped in for eagle at the par-5 16th. Clean round, clean card.

Coming off a T-23 finish at the Open Championship, where he struck the ball well but scored in rather mediocre fashion, Spieth retreated home to Dallas and decided that practice is overrated. In his case, he figured he just needed to play more.

“I tried to play a lot just to shoot scores,” said Spieth, who had outings with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim, the latter who stands second alone one stroke behind Spieth. “I had kind of taken off playing a bunch, and I think that that helped a bit in the last couple weeks [to play more].

“I did that a ton in the spring, and then when I had kind of my wrist thing [prior to the PGA Championship], I was trying to rest,” he added. “I just found that I wasn’t playing a ton in that break between US Open and Scottish Open, and so I just got to the Scottish, and I felt like things were good, but I just wasn’t scoring, so it was pretty frustrating. Some of that just has to do with knocking putts in, and some of it has to do with actually getting out there and not just being on a driving range or a putting green. I felt like the more I’m playing at home and not having to work on a ton of stuff, the better it comes out to the course here.”

It’s worth noting that Spieth, 30, posted five top-six finishes in the spring, including T-4 at the Masters and a playoff loss the following week to Matt Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage.

His coach, Cameron McCormick, endorsed the idea to the extent that he suggested Spieth even travel outside Dallas to find some games. Fortunately, there’s plenty of competition at home.

“This isn’t new. I just hadn’t done a ton of it in the last month or so,” he said.

Spieth conceded that he had “a couple of nice rounds” at Maridoe, a testing Steve Smyers design in nearby Carrollton, Texas. They were nice enough, in fact, that he was smiling when he was asked how he made out financially — because to make it interesting and get the blood flowing a little, there has to be something on the line against “friends”.

“Just fine. Yeah, just fine,” he replied, grinning.

The payoff could be sweeter if he can maintain that form throughout the weekend.

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For the 11th time in the 163-year history of the Open Championship, golf’s oldest major will take place at Royal Birkdale in 2026, which is no surprise. Six years have already passed since Jordan Spieth won the most recent Open over the Southport links in the northwest of England.

And not since the first championship outside Scotland was held at Royal St. George’s in 1894 has the event been played outside England three years in succession. So, with Royal Troon (Scotland) in place for 2024 and Royal Portrush (Northern Ireland) set to host in 2025, the return to Birkdale for what will be the 154th Open was predictable.

“Royal Birkdale is a world-class championship venue and its outstanding links will once again provide the world’s best men’s professional golfers with a tough but fair test of their talents and capabilities as they compete for the claret jug,” said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers in a statement. “It has produced many memorable moments that are woven into the story of this historic championship, including a dramatic final round in 2017 when Jordan Spieth won for the first time. We look forward to another special occasion in three years and it will be fascinating to see which player will emerge to join a list of renowned champion golfers to have won at Royal Birkdale.”

The 154th Open will be played at Royal Birkdale in 2026.

See you soon… @royalbirkdale ? pic.twitter.com/dRG7hYhWUR

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 11, 2023

Indeed, Birkdale’s previous champions—six of the nine American—are an accomplished bunch, boasting as many as 37 major victories between them. In addition to Spieth, Peter Thomson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O’Meara and Padraig Harrington have all claimed the coveted title there. Of those, only Baker-Finch has not won multiple majors.

This year’s Open Championship is July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool.

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With time off before two consecutive weeks of playing in Great Britain, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas spent Sunday at Wimbledon, taking in the sights and scenes with their wives at All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.

The three looked dapper and appeared on multiple social media accounts earlier in the morning. The Wimbledon Instagram account posted a photo of the trio standing on Centre Court asking, “thoughts on this green.”

The Tennis Channel’s Twitter account posted a photo of the three with their wives—Annie (Spieth), Allison (Fowler) and Jillian (Thomas)—with the caption, “when the trip makes it out of the group chat!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Wimbledon (@wimbledon)

By late evening outside London, the six watched 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic take on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. Djokovic is looking for his eighth Wimbledon title.

Spieth, Fowler and Thomas head north to Scotland next week to play in the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in Gullane. The Open Championship is the following week at Royal Liverpool in England.

The trip to Wimbledon is a far cry from the days when the three men joined Smylie Kaufman for spring break shenanigans at Baker’s Bay in the Bahamas, which they dubbed #SB2K16 and hilariously documented on their social media accounts. Just last year, during spring break, Thomas posted a photo on Instagram of himself, Spieth, Fowler, Kaufman and their wives acknowledging how much has changed over the years, but noted, “we’re all still the same hooligans at heart.”

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Before firing a 62 in the first round of the US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, tied for the lowest round in tournament history, Rickie Fowler told Sky Sports that he and his best mates, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, are looking into becoming investors in Leeds United, an English football club.

Leeds United, who were relegated from the Premier League into the Championship last month, were formerly owned by Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani. On June 9, The Athletic reported that Radrizzani agreed to sell his majority stake in the club to 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the storied NFL franchise from San Francisco.

BREAKING: Rickie Fowler has exclusively revealed to Sky Sports News that he is looking to become an investor in Leeds United amid the 49ers takeover pic.twitter.com/sIvrQeAK5o

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 14, 2023

49ers Enterprises is looking to pool together a group of wealthy individuals and venture capital firms to finance the reported $209 million sale, according to The Athletic. That figure is down $300 million from where it could have been if Leeds were able to remain in the Premier League.

“It would be fun if we get to be a part of it, if not, we’ll continue to root for Leeds”

The most notable Leeds supporter on the PGA Tour is Billy Foster, caddie for 2022 US Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick. It appears Foster created a community of fans on the tour, including the Spring Break boys. (Could we see Smylie Kaufman become a pitch-side reporter for Leeds next season?)

“It’s cool to have those opportunities,” Fowler told Sky Sports. “It would be fun if we get to be a part of it. If not, we will continue to root for Leeds to see if we can help out Billy.”

It’s fitting for three of America’s brightest golf stars to want to join the investment group, as the club already has a strong American presence. The Leeds midfield is anchored by a trio of young Americans — Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Brenden Aaronson — that led the US into the knockout stage of last year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Rickie, JT and Spieth aren’t the only celebrities who have looked to get into English football. In 2020, actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney teamed up to purchase Wrexham, the world’s third-oldest football club that was desperate for new ownership and an influx of cash. Reynolds and McElhenney got to see their club promoted after winning the National League and earning a spot in League Two, slowly climbing the ranks of English football.

Should these guys join 49ers Enterprises, they’ll hope to see Leeds get promoted back into the Premier League. For now, Rickie is focused on capturing his elusive first major at LACC.

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Jordan Spieth (69), Tyrrell Hatton (71) and Rory McIlroy (72), all among the most entertaining players on tour, albeit for different reasons, put on quite the show at Muirfield Village. McIlroy got the trio of Ryder Cuppers started with a pin-seeker on the third.

However, they’re all looking up at Davis Riley (67), who played his final seven holes in four under par to grab the lead at the Memorial Tournament. But no other group produced as many highlights as the marquee trio.

As is typically the case, Spieth filled up the cup in a variety of ways, sinking long birdie putts, saving par from seemingly impossible spots and holing out from off the green. If there was any concern that his missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge last week was a harbinger of things to come, he quickly put that to rest.

Spieth was only one-under when he missed the green at the par-4 10th. In vintage Spieth fashion, he was not deterred.

He's a magician ?

Ridiculous touch from the bunker for @JordanSpieth! pic.twitter.com/b5dhZpgcH5

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2023

He followed that up with a simple two-putt birdie at the par-5 11th to get to three-under. Spieth found some trouble off the 13th tee, missing the fairway right, then short-sided himself in the left rough 30 yards short of the green. All he could do was hack it out to about 23 feet. No matter. He canned that to save par and stay bogey-free for the round and one shot off the lead.

Par save and a fist pump ?@JordanSpieth remains just one back @MemorialGolf. pic.twitter.com/uLUllBJ5Gh

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2023

He came to the 17th still one shot back. He left his approach shot roughly 15 feet from the hole for birdie — one of just eight greens he hit all day. If you’ve been even a casual viewer of golf most of the last decade, you already know what happened next.

Walking it in for birdie ?@JordanSpieth heads to the last with a share of the lead @MemorialGolf. pic.twitter.com/UVpV5QHC64

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2023

“It felt like a great round. It was nice to beat a tough golf course,” Spieth said. “I did that on Sunday at the PGA, and then a place that historically has been, I think, the best place for me as a professional, at Colonial, to miss the cut there was just, was such a bummer.

“So to come out and put good work in, feel really healthy, and get a lot of short game work in and get my touch — feel like my touch is back. It started on the first hole today. I mean, I feel like the bunker play is one of the strengths of my game, and the last couple tournaments it’s been really poor, actually poor enough to not allow me to have a chance to win golf tournaments.”

The birdie tied him for the lead, but his glory was short-lived as he had to scramble to save bogey at the last to finish two shots behind Riley.

A less-fortunate playing partner

McIlroy had a similarly impressive round going through most of the afternoon. He wasn’t perfect, but few players run into birdies the way he McIlroy does. The Northern Irishman played the front nine in two under, despite parring both par fives, thanks to iron shots like this at the par-4 third.

He erased a bogey at the 10th with a birdie at the 11th. At the other par 5 on the back nine, McIlroy dripped a chip slowly down the green to tap-in range on 15 to get to three-under and one off the lead.

In perhaps a perfect representation of the last several years of his career, McIlroy got close to the top, but could not grab control of the tournament. He stuffed his tee shot on the difficult par-3 16th inside six feet, but could not convert and remained in a tie for third.

Pin seeking with @McIlroyRory ? pic.twitter.com/HUSzIBKgw5

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2023

And then came the 18th hole.

McIlroy’s drive missed right and he was left with a bad lie and a worse stance. Swinging at waist-height, he was barely able to advance his ball. Once again from the rough, McIlroy flew the green, leaving an impossible chip to a green now sloping severely away from him. Unable to keep that shot from running through the green, he quickly found himself chipping for bogey, which he left nine feet short. After missing the putt for double, he tapped in for triple bogey and, in one hole, fell into a tie for 33rd.

McIlroy averages 4.33 birdies per round at Muirfield Village, more than anyone else in tournament history, but his best finish is a tie for fourth. The good news is, he won’t have long to think about his late-afternoon misfortune with an early tee time on Friday.

A proper showman

Few entertain like Hatton. The fiery Englishman is notorious for his animation on the course and disdain for otherwise revered golf courses.

Thursday was no different.

Hatton left himself an ideal yardage on the par 5, which is common among PGA Tour players. What happened next was theatre only he could produce.

When a club drop leads to a birdie.

Just a casual hole for @TyrrellHatton ? pic.twitter.com/n7NrZnOhi4

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2023

That is a full club drop and surrender cobra, followed by a 32-foot bomb for birdie. The full gamut of emotions in just a few minutes.

A few holes later, he was in danger of dropping a shot, only to save par from off the green.

If this threesome produces highlights like this on Friday, the fans at Muirfield Village will have more than just the course’s famous milkshakes to rave about.

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