Aug 27, 2015 3 min read

EDISON, N.J. – The start of the FedEx Cup playoffs brought out the worst score from Jordan Spieth in three months.

In his first tournament as No. 1 in the world, Spieth had a pair of three-putt bogeys, hit a tee shot in the water, shot 40 on his back nine and wound up with a 74 in the opening round of The Barclays. It was his highest score since a 75 in The Players Championship, the last time he missed a cut.

“Just lot a little bit of focus,” Spieth said. “All in all, I’m just going to take today as a fluke round. I still believe I’m playing well. It just happened to be an off day on a day where it counted.”

Bubba Watson had seven birdies and a pair of late mistakes that led to a 5-under 65 and a four-way share of the lead with Spencer Levin, Camilo Villegas and PGA Tour rookie Tony Finau.

Trinity High School graduate Steve Wheatcroft had a tough day, finishing 3-over at 73, which left him tied for 86th, eight strokes off the lead.

Villegas only got into the top 125 to qualify for the playoffs last week at the Wyndham Championship with two shots to spare. That was pressure. Now he feels as though he has nothing to lose as he tries to get into the top 100 who advance to the second event next week at the TPC Boston.

Rohanna shoots 71: Brittany Lang birdied five of the first seven holes in windy conditions and shot a 7-under 65 Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.

Added to the U.S. Solheim Cup team Monday as one of Juli Inkster’s two captain’s picks, Lang had a two-stroke lead over Tiffany Joh, Sydnee Michaels and Ryann O’Toole.

Waynesburg High School graduate Rachel Rohanna had a good start, shooting a 1-under 71 and is in 26th place. Roahanna, who competes regularly on the Symetra Tour, is playing in her first LPGA event of the season. She competed in two events last year but failed to make the cut either time.

Lang birdied Nos. 1, 3-5 and 7 in her morning round on the Senator Course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex. She birdied Nos. 11-12, dropped strokes on Nos. 13-14 and rebounded with birdies on Nos. 16-17.

Julieta Granada, Hyo Joo Kim, Ariya Jutanugarn, Therese Koelbaek and Simin Feng were three strokes back at 68.

Langer hopes for repeat: Since it became a stop on the Champions Tour eight years ago, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has not had a repeat champion. Bernhard Langer is ready to change that, even without daughter Christina helping call the shots.

“It’s possible. Anything is possible,” Langer said as he prepared to begin defense of his title on Friday, a day after his 58th birthday. “But it’s not that easy of a golf course. You’ve got to drive it extremely straight and hit some great shots to stay out of trouble.”