Hlas: Jordan Spieth is mortal for a day

SILVIS, Ill. - A father of a young boy asked Jordan Spieth if he would give the child an autograph late Thursday afternoon, though Spieth wasn't feeling worthy of adulation.

'You're his favorite player,” the dad told Spieth, and the winner of this year's Masters and U.S. Open complied with the request without hesitation. But as he did, he glumly told father and son this:

'I didn't put on much of a show.”

Exactly 100 of the 156 players in the John Deere Classic field bettered even-par 71 here in the first round. Spieth wasn't among them. He turned in a 71, eight shots behind co-leaders Justin Thomas and Nicholas Thompson.

You know the old expression. You can't win the John Deere Classic on Thursday, but you can lose it on Thursday.

Except if there is one player in this tourney you can't dismiss after a mundane first-round, it's Spieth. Two years ago, he shot a first-round 70 here only to follow it with three straight 65s and win the tourney in a playoff. He opened with a 71 last year, but finished 16-under, tied for seventh place.

This year, many eyes in the golf world were on him Thursday as he played his first tournament round since winning the U.S. Open three weekends ago. Many eyes at TPC Deere Run were on him, too. His gallery was massive by typical Thursday standards here, and with reason. He currently is the hottest name in golf.

But even golf's princes have days in which they feel like peasants. Spieth had a bumpy afternoon, and showed frustration and occasional dejection as he worked his way around the course.

'Just a rusty round today,” Spieth said. 'My first round of 18 holes since the U.S. Open was yesterday.”

He was asked if the attention he has gotten since the Open has affected him. Of course, he said it hadn't.

It was plausible deniability. The guy hadn't played competitive golf in 18 days. He did go to the Bahamas during his break, and while fishing he inadvertently had to battle a 12-foot, 300-pound shark that had eaten a tuna Spieth had hooked.

That made for a great story. But it didn't help his golf game.

'I took a week off and didn't touch a club,” said Spieth. 'I don't do that very often in summertime.

'I came back and I worked really hard with my instructor on tee-to-green and putting, but it was all range work. I mean, I didn't get out on the golf course like I maybe should have and tested it out on the course, and so my on-course reps started yesterday here in preparation for this week and for (next week's British) Open.”

The only other player here with a similar fan-following Thursday did what he does at the Deere. Zach Johnson of Cedar Rapids shot a bogey-free, 5-under-par 66. He birdied three of his final five holes to turn a workmanlike round into something shinier, and is tied for ninth place heading to his 7:40 a.m. tee time today.

It was Johnson's 25th-consecutive round in the 60s here, 25 more than Spieth's current streak.

'I hope I'm getting an invite well into my 50s before that ends,” Johnson said, 'but I've got to gather that's probably not going to be the case.

'I'm comfortable here, as I keep saying. I love everything about what this course demands and requires, and I love the greens. It's pretty simple.”

University of Iowa junior Carson Schaake, here on a sponsor's exemption, shot a 75 in his first experience playing a PGA Tour event. Schaake shared the Big Ten Conference's individual championship with Illinois' Nick Hardy in April.