AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jordan Spieth shot a 6-under 66 on Thursday in the first round of the 2018 Masters, and he leads by two over Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar. Spieth has played 17 rounds at the Masters, and it's the ninth time he's either shared the lead or held it alone. That's a 53 percent rate, which is almost unfathomable.

After going out in 2-under 34 on the first nine with an eagle at No. 8, Spieth actually bumped his score to 7 under, three clear of the field, after five straight birdies on holes 13-17. A badly yanked drive on No. 18 led to a near miracle hole-out par chip, but instead, he tapped in for bogey and the 66. It's his fourth round of 66 or better in 17 total rounds over five Masters.

Spieth came into the week ranked No. 185 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting, so of course he finished second in the field to Finau with just 24 putts through 18 holes (and just seven over the last six). They weren't shaky, either. He couldn't put it anywhere other than the center of the cup.

Want to watch the Masters this week? Stream Featured Groups, Amen Corner, Holes 15 & 16 and On the Range live on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App.

The reason for that, though, is because of his iron play. Spieth is probably one of the three or four best iron players in the world, even though he's known more for the flat stick (especially at this course). He revels in sloped, undulating fairways like players find at Augusta National. He loves sidehill and downhill lies more than anyone who plays this sport should. 

"This golf course, specifically, brings out a lot of feel in my game, and I think that's advantageous," said Spieth. "I don't do well in domes or driving range shots, and you don't have many of those out here."

After a birdie at the easy par-5 13th to get to 3 under and one off the pace, Spieth hit an iron to nine feet on No. 14. It led to a fascinating juxtaposition as just ahead of him on the course (but behind him on the leaderboard) was Rory McIlroy. 

At almost the exact moment Spieth fist-pumped his second of what would be five straight birdies on No. 14, McIlroy roasted a drive on No. 15. If you stood at the right spot next to both holes (which I did), the two events happened almost simultaneously. It wasn't difficult to spot the foreshadowing. Spieth doing what he does maybe better than anyone history (score at Augusta) and McIlroy doing what he does maybe better than anyone in history (drive the golf ball). It also wasn't difficult to see them doing that together again in the final pairing on Saturday or Sunday for a green jacket.

McIlroy, who is three back after a 69, went on to birdie No. 15. Spieth covered him up with a birdie of his own as he hit it to 4 feet. He hit it to 5 feet on the par-3 16th and 7 feet on the par-4 17th. That's six putts in five holes with exactly 27 feet of made birdie putts. It's easy to score as the 185th-best putter on the PGA Tour if you only have to make an average of 5-foot birdie putts.

"I felt like, you know, I putted well, but I didn't putt amazingly well," said Spieth. "I just hit some really solid iron shots on that back nine to go with just some solid, inside of 10, 12 feet putting."

He nearly gave it all back on the last but recovered with a tremendous bogey, and the damage to the field had been done. Just as we thought coming in, the Masters runs through Spieth. It has for the last three years. It probably will for the next 15. That doesn't mean he's going to win, but it does mean that you're going to have to go and beat him (which, to be fair, has happened here before).

"Whether it's [Friday] or it's Saturday or Sunday, I'll always have demons out here," said Spieth. "But I'll always have ... a tremendous amount of confidence out here. Once you win here, you have an advantage over anybody who hasn't won here. And, you know, there can be positives and negatives to both the demons and the confidence."

Speaking of demons, it's easy to envision Augusta National as a modern sporting version of Narnia, the magical land of nymphs and dryads. It's even easier when the sun is falling over the trees late in the day on a long, crispy afternoon in the first two rounds. And it's easiest when Spieth is doing what Spieth does at this place. They should exchange his locker for a wardrobe that he can climb through every April to get to the course. No matter how he's playing, his sticks turns magical when the chairman says, "Go."

Augusta can be an uncomfortable place. For all its beauty and magnificence, it remains a course that has probably the most navigational permutations in this sport. There are hundreds of ways to play each hole, and if you don't have a game plan or you don't feel at ease on hanging lies or balls below your feet, you'll get cooked in a hurry.

Spieth rarely, if ever, looks out of place, though. His gait around this track is so easy and his presence so calming that it's almost startling to experience. It is easy for him in a way that it should not be easy. His scoring average here is 70.1. That's almost a stroke better than Tiger Woods, who has won four Masters and never missed a cut. 

Like a sonic boom that stands still while the ripples shatter everything around him, Spieth is the center of the tournament. He was in 2015. He was in 2016. He was at times in 2017. He is again this year. As Augusta National emptied patrons out of its gut deep into Thursday's Round 1, Spieth marched around pouring in putts and tipping the brim of his cap like a proper Texan. He seems like he loves it. He seems like he thinks it's easy. He seems like he's going to win another Masters.