Jordan Spieth keeps rolling along, cards a 69

GULLANE, Scotland - The last five days must feel like a blur to 19-year-old Jordan Spieth. He won the John Deere Classic on Sunday for his first professional win, which qualified him for the British Open.

He flew on a charter overnight to Scotland. He saw Muirfield for the first time. And then he went out Thursday and shot a 69, one of only 14 rounds in the 60s.

Perhaps even more impressive is that Spieth had only one bogey, dropping a shot on the par-3 fourth hole. He birdied two of the par 5s and added another birdie on the short par-4 third hole.

The kid loves to play poker to relax. This feels like house money: He started the season without status on any tour and now has a PGA Tour title, an exemption through 2015 on tour, a spot in the next two majors and World Golf Championships, and over $2 million.

"There's even less pressure than there was before," Spieth said. "I kind of accomplished more than I'd thought possible this year. I just wanted to get my card for next year."

The British Open got underway with five balls hit from the first tee.

Peter Senior led off the 142d Open with a tee shot down the middle. Oliver Fisher just found the left rough. The rest of the shots belonged to Lloyd Saltman. He sliced his first shot so badly that he cleared a 30-foot fence guarding the tented village, which is marked out-of-bounds. His next shot clanged off the boards of the fence and was never found. His third tee shot was in the right rough, and he scrambled for a quadruple-bogey 8.

Two players withdrew after their rounds started.

Peter Hanson, who has been coping with a bad back, pulled out after five holes. Louis Oosthuizen, who won the Open at St. Andrews in 2010, withdrew with a recurring neck injury after a bogey on the eighth hole. He was 4-over for his round.

"I'm bitterly disappointed to have to pull out," Oosthuizen said. "I thought I would be OK today."