Jordan Spieth got off to a poor start in his first of five 2015 title defenses on Thursday, shooting 5-over 76 in the first round of the Valspar Championship. Spieth enters Friday's second round nine shots behind the trio of leaders: Keegan Bradley, Ken Duke and Charles Howell III.
For Spieth, it's the second time in his last three PGA Tour starts that he has opened in the mid-70s. While Spieth has downplayed the poor first rounds, the less-measured reaction on social media has been to question if Spieth has lost his game, if his 2015 was a fluke and to speculate about the causes of his early troubles in tournaments.
Spieth wasn't having any of that on Thursday evening, responding both the PGA Tour's official Twitter account and to a commenter on his Instagram account.
The world No. 1 was not pleased the PGA Tour shared a tweet about his round leading with a playful quote -- without proper context because there are only 140 characters -- about getting himself injured in frustration after the round (via Geoff Shackelford):
That response has since been deleted.
Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner spotted Spieth's Instagram troll, who commented on a picture saying, "IF HIS PUTTER IS NOT WORKING HES GARBAGE (sic). Every other aspect of his gave is very average."
Spieth wasn't having any of that, responding, "couldn't be further from the truth troll (sic).. Go do research before hating."
Here's Jordan Spieth dropping some #truthbombs on an Instagram troll: pic.twitter.com/nioGCs7QUP
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) March 10, 2016
Rory McIlroy even came to Spieth's defense on Twitter, responding to a tweet from ESPN's Jason Sobel characterizing the hot-take reactions from fans.
No, he's not TW, he's not slumping and he's not done. He's a double major winning 22 year old. He'll be just fine!! https://t.co/z0JHj72SiH
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) March 10, 2016
