Garcia’s strong finish gives him lead at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sergio Garcia rushed to the first tee and raced to the finish line Thursday in The Players Championship.

Most importantly, he avoided the kind of wreck that allowed the TPC Sawgrass to live up to its reputation as the course where anything can happen to anyone at any time.

Garcia thought he had plenty of time to get from the range to the

10th tee to start his round. The sun was in his eyes when he looked at the clock, he wasn’t sure what he saw, jogged the rest of the way and had a minute to spare.

Then he fired off a

7-under 65, capped off by a birdie-birdie-eagle finish for a two-shot lead over Brian Harman.

Rory Mcilroy, the defending champion, opened with a double bogey from the trees. He hit two in the water on the 18th and made a quadruple-bogey 8. He wound up with a 79, his worst score since his opening round at Royal Portrush in the 2019 British Open.

When darkness brought the first round to a halt — 21 players didn’t finish — there already were 13 scores of 80 or higher. That included Henrik Stenson with an 85, his highest score ever on the PGA Tour. There were 22 scores of triple bogey or worse. British Open champion Shane Lowry took bogey on his final hole for a 68 and was tied with Corey Conners and Matt Fitzpatrick. Bryson Dechambeau, coming off his victory last week at Bay Hill, had a 69.

Ian Poulter (77) sat for lunch with Mcilroy, Stenson and Tyrrell Hatton (76) and posted video of this fearsome foursome that combined to go 29-over par. “Oh, what a bunch of muppets,” Poulter said.