Ramey grabs Players lead with first-round 64 in his debut
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA. >> Chad Ramey managed to avoid stress and bogeys Thursday in The Players Championship for an 8-under 64, making him an unlikely leader on a TPC Sawgrass course that rarely fails to deliver a surprise.
Ramey had a one-shot lead over two-time major champion Collin Morikawa in mild conditions. Roughly half the field was at par or better.
That doesn’t mean it was devoid of drama.
Hayden Buckley made an ace on the famed island green at the 17th, a hole he had only seen on TV until he arrived this week for his Players debut.
Aaron Wise lost four balls in a span of two holes — in the water on the 17th, and then three straight tee shots in the drink left of the 18th fairway, where he closed with a 10, one short of the record for highest score on the closing hole.
Rory Mcilroy had his highest score in just over a year. The 2019 Players champion opened with a 6, closed with a 6 and was pretty ordinary in between on his way to a 76.
Ramey had no such problems, putting for birdie on all but two holes during the slightly more peaceful morning conditions.
“I might have made it look that way but it wasn’t easy at all,” Ramey said. “It was fun. First time to shoot a score on such an iconic course like this. You can’t ask for any more.”
Ramey qualified for his first Players Championship by winning in the Dominican Republic last year against a weak field held opposite the Dell Match Play.
He believes he belongs and can beat anyone, even the strongest field of the year so far. His record wouldn’t suggest that, even with the victory. In his 28 starts since then, Ramey has missed 18 cuts and failed to finish in the top 20 in the other tournaments.
“The game has felt really close,” Ramey said. “I know the scores haven’t showed it, but it’s felt really close. I just made one little tweak in my swing, and it really seems to be paying off. I kind of hit the ball where I was looking most of the day, and then whenever I did get out of position, I did a pretty good job getting back in.”
Morikawa has missed two cuts in his last three starts, rare for him, and spent extra time in his days off trying to find that fade that has carried him to so much early success. He thinks he is swinging it now as well as he did a few years ago.
His signature shot was a 4-iron to 3 feet for eagle on the par-5 second hole, his 11th of the day, and it came during an eight-hole stretch he played in 6-under par. Morikawa also played without a bogey.
“The game feels really good, and I’m just going to take that into the next few days and just kind of use that momentum to hopefully play three more really good rounds,” he said.