Bradley, Fleetwood set pace at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA.— March or May, there is no shortage of excitement at The Players Championship.

Tiger Woods made only one par on the back nine Thursday, revving up the crowd with five birdies, only to slow his charge with three mistakes.

Emiliano Grillo hit the pin on the island-green 17th and the ball nearly bounced into the water. One group later, Ryan Moore heard the “clink” of ball hitting pin on the fly and heard only cheers for the ninth holein-one on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.

Harris English had an albatross 2. Kiradech Aphibarnrat had an 84.

There were 23 eagles. Fifty players had a double bogey or worse.

When the day ended, Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood went different routes to reach the same score and share the lead at 7-under 65.

Bradley got off to a fast start and had three putts for eagle, making one of them. Fleetwood had a big finish with three straight birdie putts of 15 feet or longer.

“If you like golf, you should like this golf course, really,” Fleetwood said. “It’s just about as fair as you’re going to get a test. If you hit it well like I did today, you’re going to have chances and you can shoot a score, and people are shooting scores.”

The move from May after 11 years to its traditional March spot on the calendar brought green, softer conditions and more wind than usual, though it was out of the typical May direction. With the rye overseed making the moderate rough more predictable, players took aim.

Fleetwood had only one birdie on the slightly easier back nine, and finished with birdie putts from 15 feet, 30 feet and 18 feet. Byeong Hun An and Brian Harman were at 66, while Rory McIlroy also played bogey-free for a 67. He was in a group with Moore, who used a 54-degree wedge for his ace on the 17th. For McIlroy, this was the third time in 10 starts at The Players he broke 70 in the first round.

Also at 67 was Vaughn Taylor, who must love the move back to March. In the eight times he played in May, he never made the cut.