Seasoned Elkington in hunt for third PLAYERS win

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Steve Elkington wasn't particularly worried.

He'd played enough rounds on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to know that he didn't need to panic when he made bogey on two of his first three holes Thursday.

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Steve Elkington is a two-time PLAYERS champion.

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PLAYERS past champions

HOW HE DID IT

Elkington's scorecard

"The only thing I can tell you is I've got a lot of experience here," the 45-year-old Aussie, smiling wryly, acknowledged.

Six birdies and one closing bogey later, Elkington had a round of 69 that left him in the hunt for what could become the third PLAYERS Championship of his career.

"I was happy with my round, obviously," Elkington said. "A 69 on this course is a great way to start this tournament. Obviously the 7:20 tee off time helped me today.

"The course is in as good as condition as I've ever seen it. It's very dry, and the greens are firm, so, you know, the shots have to be very precise. We always have to play precise golf at this course, but this week I think it'll even be more precise."

Elkington got the kinks out with a 7-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole, then really made his move with four more in a five-hole stretch that began on No. 9. His favorite came at the 10th hole.

"I hit a 9 iron to about an inch," the 1991 and '97 PLAYERS champion said. "I'm three out of two from that distance."

Elkington wasn't even that perturbed with the bogey he made at the 18th hole. He had 196 yards for his approach and chose a 6-iron, but his ball settled beside one of Pete Dye's signature railroad ties.

"We were just trying to get it on the front and let it run out," Elkington said. "But as I got up here, the wind was more into and ... my ball flew up and came up short and it ran down there and had an awkward shot off the rail."

Elkington, who has a scoring average of 71.68 in 56 previous rounds on the Stadium Course, said the course "is perfect. It's ideal for this tournament; it's the way they want to play it."

Although as he put it "I haven't scared anybody," Elkington has been playing well this year. He has finished among the top 15 in half of his 10 starts, including a tie for fourth at the FBR Open.

Elkington, a 10-time PGA TOUR champ, hasn't won since the 1999 Doral-Ryder Open, a period of 182 starts. While he's encouraged by his start, the veteran is hardly one to get too excited with 54 holes remaining.

"I don't know, I was happy with the way I played," Elkington said. "The greens, I need to keep an eye on the speed of my putting. I judged it well today. It's not really so much exciting because there's a lot of work left here on this course, so you can't just really jump up and up and down about it.

"But it certainly is a nice way to start."