“I feel like my game truly suits the other three majors maybe more than a P.G.A. Championship,” said Spieth, whose only top 10 in this tournament in four previous starts was a second-place finish in 2015. “But I believe we can play anywhere and win anywhere. It’s just a matter of having everything in sync at the right time.”

Matsuyama, who has won six times worldwide in the past 10 months, was out of sync from the moment he reached the top of those 48 steps from the practice green. His opening drive landed in the right rough, and his right arm flew off the club during his follow through. Matsuyama’s streak of 22 holes without a bogey ended on No. 1 when he missed a 6-foot par putt.

“The worries that I had about my swing showed up today in the way I played,” Matsuyama said.

He was in the final grouping with Kisner and Jason Day, who has gotten to know Matsuyama while playing alongside him in two Presidents Cups. Last Sunday, Day sent Matsuyama a text message that read: “Congrats, mate. Unreal playing. See you next week.” On Friday, Day described Matsuyama as “a really good guy” who is the “hardest worker out here right now.”

Matsuyama’s swing tempo is the envy of his competitors. But playing Saturday in humidity that was only slightly more oppressive than the expectations placed on him, Matsuyama struggled to find his rhythm. He found just two fairways on the front nine.

If Matsuyama appeared to be mentally drained, it might have been because he had talked long into Friday night about his round of 64. He submitted to at least seven television interviews with crews from Japan, Europe and the United States. He sat for a news conference in English and then met with a group of nearly two dozen members of the news media from Asia.

“He’s been under big pressure since he started playing the PGA Tour,” said Rex Kuramoto, who played professionally in Japan and is now a commentator for Golf Channel’s Japanese-language broadcasts. “So this pressure is nothing new to him.”