The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia–Jason Day and Jordan Spieth went in opposite directions today at the Australian Open.
Day had four-straight birdies on the back nine, including a 30-footer, for a three-under 68 that left him a stroke out of the second-round lead.
Australian Lucas Herbert, who shot 66, is in front with a nine-under total of 133 on The Australian course.
First-round leader Cameron Davis, who shot 72 today, is another stroke behind in third.
Defending champ Spieth earlier failed to take advantage of ideal morning scoring conditions and had a 71 to fall further behind the leaders–eight strokes behind Herbert and tied for 19th place with 10 others.
Spieth, who hasn’t played since the Presidents Cup in late September, has won the Australian Open two out of the last three years and finished second the other time.
Day, who had seven birdies and four bogeys today, is aiming to win his first Australian Open title in his first competitive appearance on home soil since 2013.
“It was quite tough out there today with the winds,” he noted.
“But I played very well and gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdies.”
The 21-year-old Herbert led the Australian Open into the final round last year–when he finished seven shots off the pace in a tie for 20th–and is coming off a second-place finish in last week’s New South Wales Open.
“I think I warmed up this morning and it felt really good, and I was like, ‘I hope this sticks around,'” Herbert said.
At least Spieth’s morning start tomorrow means he’ll avoid the windy conditions that the leading groups will have to contend with in the afternoon.
And that left him optimistic of a comeback. In 2014, he shot a then course-record 63 at The Australian to win his first Australian title by six shots.
“The golf course will start to bake out and you get really calm conditions in the morning that leave the windier conditions for the afternoon, so I’ll have a pretty gettable golf course” Spieth said.
“If I can post something like five-, six-under, then I’m very much in this tournament.”
Day agreed that Spieth is far from out of it.
“It’s Jordan Spieth,” Day said. “If he gets something going on the weekend, he can hole a lot of putts and make a lot of birdies and make a charge, and usually he does make a charge on the weekend.
“Sometimes there’s not a lot of pressure on your shoulders,” he added.
“You just go out there and kind of free-will it, and that’s how you make a ton of birdies and move up the leaderboard pretty quick.”
