Two share lead at Players
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Mackenzie Hughes arrived at TPC Sawgrass with no scar tissue and played his first round at The Players Championship with no bogeys.
Pretty simple, eh?
The PGA Tour rookie from Canada shook his head and laughed. Even after opening with a 5-under-par 67 Thursday to share the lead with William McGirt, Hughes saw enough of the Players Stadium Course to realize surprises lurk around every corner.
“There’s just not really a moment where you can let up,” Hughes said.
No need explaining that to Adam Scott, who won this tournament in 2004 and was off to a strong start on a steamy afternoon when he was 6 under and heading to the infamous par-3 17th with its island green.
First, he watched Masters champion Sergio Garcia hit a gap wedge shot that took one big hop, landed just behind the cup and disappeared for a hole-inone. Scott followed by spinning a shot off the bank and into the water for a double bogey, and he compounded that with another double bogey.
“I played some good golf out there and unfortunately not on the last two,” Scott said after settling for a 70. “It happens.” At least he had company. Dustin Johnson’s first wedge of the way hit the pin, caromed off the green and led to bogey. On a day when nothing seemed
to go his way, the world’s No. 1-ranked player opened with a 71. Rory McIlroy went to tap in from two feet and missed, then had to make one twice that long for his double bogey on the 10th
hole. He shot 73.
Through it all, Hughes was rock solid. Only twice did he have par putts longer than three feet, and he made them both. The last piece of stress came on the final hole, where trees blocked his way to the green. To chip out sideways would risk chipping into the water. He found a four-foot wide window in which he had to keep it under one branch and go over two more. It was a large enough gap and the perfect shot for a 6-iron.
“I was close enough to the trees. It paid off,” said Hughes, who already has first tour win, the RSM Classic last November at Sea Island (Ga.) Golf Club.
McGirt played Thursday morning and made a pair of eagles on the back nine to atone in his round of 67.
Among those at 68 was Jon Rahm, another first-timer at this lucrative event who had one of four bogey-free rounds on the steamy day in north Florida. Even with a mild wind in the afternoon, just more than a third of the field broke par.
Fast starts and bad finishes were the norm, and not just for Scott.
Defending champion Jason Day ran off two straight birdies after making the turn and was in the lead at 5 under, which for the former world No. 1 was a peculiar position. He hasn’t won since The Players Championship last year. Day, however, made three bogeys over his last four holes and had to settle for a 70.
He was playing in the same group as Rickie Fowler, the 2015 champion who also got off to a fast start until one bad shot — a really bad shot — on his 15th hole at the par-4 seventh. From the middle of the fairway, Fowler blocked it so badly to the right that it hit a cart path and went deep into the pines. It took him two shots to get out, and he made double bogey on his way to a 70.
And he managed to see the big picture.
“No one’s going crazy low or anything like that,” he said.
“I played some good golf out there and unfortunately not on the last two. It happens.” – ADAM SCOTT