The course that is supposed to be tougher than most, was simply a pushover on Thursday.
And the player who pushed hardest in the first round of the Players Championship was none other than world’s No. 1 — Jason Day.
Day put the TPC Sawgrass in a stranglehold for most of the early part of the day and would end up with a nine-under par 63 that tied the competitive course record at the PGA Tour’s showcase event.
“I just played solid tee to green. I was very comfortable with the putter,” said Day who admittedly wanted the new course record. He played the back nine first and started his round with three straight birdies. He added a fourth at the 17th, which was playing about 125 yards. Soft greens and a lack of wind let Day continue his rampage on the front where he added four more birdies through seven holes there. At the eighth, a birdie bid from 39 feet barely missed. “I really wanted that,” Day said, knowing that the par five ninth would be an open-arms birdie opportunity. He birdied it for the 63. “I’ll take it,” he said, “tied the course record.”
That 63 was good for a two-shot advantage over four players — Cameron Tringale, Shane Lowry, Bill Haas and Justin Rose. Lowry shot 29 on the back nine, a record score for that half of the golf course. Rose was laser-accurate. He hit all 18 greens in his round.
Another five players, including Ernie Els and Brooks Koepka, were in at 66. Most of the low scores came from the morning wave where the field averaged 70.
One player who didn’t take advantage of the conditions was Jordan Spieth.
Spieth was two-under for his round going to his final hole, the par five ninth. It was an easy birdie hole for most of the field and Spieth was in the rear greenside bunker in two, no doubt he’d hit it close and finish at three-under. Instead, he fluffed his bunker shot and left it on the bank between the trap and the green and his fourth barely made it on the green. From there he proceeded to three-putt for a double-bogey and a round of 72 that left him tied for 90th along with the oldest player in the field — 58-year-old Bernhard Langer.
Late in the day, defending champion Rickie Fowler found himself in the same even-par boat with Spieth. Fowler came to the 18th hole at two-under for his round but hooked his tee shot in the water and finished with a double-bogey. Fowler found himself nine off the pace of Jason Day and it looked every bit as if he won’t be the first ever to go back-to-back in this event.
Rory McIlroy didn’t have much luck either. He found himself at even par with Spieth and Fowler.
If you weren’t going low on Thursday, you were missing out. With Day tying the course record and five in at seven under, another half-dozen and six-under and nine players at five-under par 67, it was simply a birdie barrage at the course that is supposed to be a tough one.
In all, 82 of the 144 players in the field broke par.
If this scoring pace keeps up, even par won’t make it to the weekend, which means Spieth, Fowler and McIlroy will have to go out early and Friday and start going low.
