McIlroy, Fleetwood tied at top
Furyk shoots surprising 64 at TPC Sawgrass
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rory McIlroy was nearly as good at the end as Tommy Fleetwood was at the start Friday in The Players Championship.
McIlroy hit a 4-iron to 10 feet for eagle, ran in a 20-foot birdie putt on the islandgreen 17th and then made a bold play with a towering shot over a tree 20 feet in front of him to secure par. It added to a 7under 65, and his best start on the TPC Sawgrass in his 10 appearances.
Fleetwood took his good swing from the range to the course and watched it pay off with a birdie-eagle-birdie start that carried him to a 67.
They shared the lead at 12-under 132, three shots clear of anyone else.
And they were nine shots ahead of Tiger Woods, who played solid golf except for one hole — the wrong hole. Woods put two balls into the water on the notorious par-3 17th, leading to a quadruple bogey that wiped out a good start and forced him to settle for a 71.
Given the nature of this golf course — and a forecast for a different wind — the fun might just be starting.
And that’s as far as McIlroy was willing to look.
“Winning is a byproduct of doing all the right things, and I feel like if I can continue to do those things well, hopefully I do end up with the trophy on Sunday,” he said. “But there’s a lot of golf to play before that.”
The biggest surprise from the group three shots behind might be 48-year-old Jim Furyk, mainly because he didn’t think he would be at Sawgrass. After he devoted two years to being Ryder Cup captain, his world ranking plunged 194 spots to No. 231. But a great finish at the start of the Florida swing to tie for ninth moved him high enough in the FedEx Cup standings to get into the strongest field in golf at the last minute.
And then he delivered his best score in 80 rounds over 25 years, a 64 that put him in the group at 9-under 135.
“I thought this was an off week,” Furyk said. “It’s a nice gift, an opportunity.”
Ian Poulter, who resurrected his PGA Tour career with a runner-up finish at The Players two years ago, had a 66 and was three shots behind, along with Abraham Ancer of Mexico (66) and Brian Harman (69).
Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player, also had an eagle-birdie-par finish for a 68. He was in the group five shots behind.
McIlroy hasn’t won since Bay Hill a year ago, though he has had his chances for more. The Arnold Palmer Invitational last week was the ninth time in his last 30 tournaments dating to the start of 2018 that he played in the final group without winning.