The Daily Wrap-up, Round 1: PLAYERS Championship
By Staff and Wire Reports
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Tiger Woods hit one tee shot that went 190 yards and barely reached the fairway. He hit another shot smack into the middle of a sawgrass plant, the ball only seen by standing over it and suspended a few inches off the ground.
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Both times, he scratched out a par and wound up with a 2-under 70 in THE PLAYERS Championship.
That's usually not a bad score to start out this tournament.
Just not on Thursday.
J.B. Holmes and Robert Allenby shared the lead at 66, which didn't give them much separation. Twenty players were separated by two shots at the top of the leaderboard.
Conditions were so benign, and greens were so soft, that more than half the field broke par on the Stadium Course. And that's not all. The 36 players who shot in the 60s were the most for the opening round since 1994, and the average score (71.1) was the lowest in 17 years in the first round.
"I only made three birdies today," said Woods, who didn't make a bogey until the final hole when his 5-wood took a hard hop into the water. "I had myself a few chances in there to make some putts, make some birdies, and didn't really do it."
Masters champion Phil Mickelson shot the same score, in much more conventional fashion.
He felt about the same way.
"Two under is not what I wanted today," Mickelson said. "But there is a round in the mid 60s. If I can shoot that tomorrow, I'll get right back in it."
Holmes played bogey-free for his 66. The only time he came close to a bogey was at No. 10, when he hit over the green and did well to chip to 15 feet before making the par putt.
"It was a fun day, one of those rounds where everything was going pretty good," Holmes said. "It's kind of one of those rounds where it's not easy, but it felt pretty easy."
Allenby played in the afternoon, when the breeze kicked up, and only had one lapse with a three-putt on the par-3 eighth.
"Greens were a bit slow out there, definitely quite soft after the rain that we've had the last couple of days," Allenby said. "It definitely made it very accessible, some of those flags. I'm happy with the start, just happy to be amongst it."
It was a big crowd.
Francesco Molinari of Italy had a chance to join the leaders until he chopped up the par-5 ninth hole for a bogey and joined the large group at 68. Those at 69 included Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh, along with Davis Love III, who showed that even a benign Sawgrass still has some bite. He was tied for the lead until making bogeys on the last three holes.
With scrutiny higher than after the worst tournament of his career, Woods settled down after a shaky start and eased speculation that he could miss consecutive cuts for the first time in his career.
A week ago at Quail Hollow, Woods had his second-highest round (79) and the worst 36-hole score (153) of his career to miss the cut by eight shots. Then came practice rounds that didn't look much better.
"I've felt like I've done some good work this week, even though reports are I was hitting all over the lot," Woods said. "But I was working on a few things. I was very comfortable with what I was working toward, and I was very excited about what was happening. It was just a matter of doing it in competition. And I did it today."
A few pars saved the day -- one after a hooked tee shot into the trees, another when he fanned a shot to the right into the bunker on No. 4, then made an 8-foot par putt after hitting another bunker.
And nothing looked worse than a 3-wood that he popped up on No. 7, barely reaching the fairway and having to hit a 5-wood for his second shot on a par 4. He got up-and-down for par, and two holes later, gave a light but meaningful fist pump when he hit 5-wood to a tucked green on the par-5 ninth to 18 feet for a two-putt birdie.
He only hit one bad shot the rest of the round, but it led to a recovery shot that his caddie opposed.
Woods pulled his 5-wood on the short 12th hole smack into a sawgrass bush, the ball suspended a few inches off the ground. Steve Williams suggested that he declare an unplayable lie and take a penalty shot.
"That was a hit-and-hope," Woods said.
He went to another bush to simulate how the ball might come out. As he stood over the shot, Williams was still pointing to the grass behind him as a good place to drop. Woods ignored him, never taking his eyes off the shot.
"It was a very, very low percentage shot," Williams said. "If he takes the drop, the worst he can make is 5. He could have hit it anywhere. He could have whiffed it. But he said, 'I think I can hit this.'"
Woods hit it to the front of the green, chipped to 5 feet and made his par. His only bogey came on the 18th, when his 5-wood had too much draw and took a hard hop left into the water. He turned and cursed twice, then began the long walk up the fairway to figure out where to drop. There went Woods' hope of breaking 70 in the opening round at Sawgrass for the first time in his career.
He was more bothered by missing so birdie chances -- four putts inside 12 feet. Even so, Woods sounded much more optimistic after playing only his seventh round of competition since Nov. 15.
"It takes time to get into the rhythm of competing, and it takes tournaments," he said. "And I haven't had a lot of tournaments under my belt."
FACTS AND STATS: More on Holmes, Allenby and more
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Holmes is tied for the lead at THE PLAYERS Championship after a bogey-free 66 in the first round. This tournament is beginning to look very similar to the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year when Holmes shot a bogey-free first round to finish the day tied for the lead, the first time that he ever had at least a share of the lead after Round 1. Holmes was unable to hold on in that tournament and tied for 21st.
• Allenby also holds a share of the lead. Allenby has led at the end of the first round in five previous tournaments. While he's never held on to win any of those events, Allenby has also never finished outside the top 10 when leading after the first round.
• Love made six birdies in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship. It was the 15th time in his career that Love made at least six birdies in one round at THE PLAYERS Championship. That ties Fred Couples for the highest number of rounds with at least six par breakers at THE PLAYERS Championship since 1983.
• During an impressive six-hole stretch, John Rollins made five birdies from the fourth through the ninth holes in the first round. That ties the most par breakers that Rollins has ever had in any six-hole stretch on the PGA TOUR. Since 1983, no player has ever made five birdies through this particular six-hole stretch at THE PLAYERS Championship.
• Tiger Woods shot a 2-under 70 in his first round. This ties the lowest first round that Woods has ever had at TPC Sawgrass, having played there 12 previous times. This is the worst low-round for Woods in any venue that he has played five or more times.
| Notables at THE PLAYERS Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Thursday's best |
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The par-5 2nd hole was the easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.517.
The par-4 14th hole was the toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.345.| Live Essentials | ||||
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