Big finish leaves Garcia with lead at Players event
Sergio Garcia rushed to the first tee and raced to the finish line Thursday in The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
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 7underpar 65, capped off by a birdiebirdieeagle finish for a twoshot lead over Brian Harman.
“For some reason, it just kind of fits my eye,” said Garcia, who won The Players in 2008 and has twice been runnerup. “I see what I want to do pretty much every hole, and then it’s a matter of doing it.”
Garcia only had to look next to him to see what kind of damage the Stadium Course inflicted, even on a pristine day of pleasant sunshine and a mild breeze.
Rory McIlroy, the defending champion, opened with a double bogey from the trees. He hit two in the water on No. 18 and made a quadruplebogey 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 to take a little off his driver on the par5 16th and had 9iron left, setting up a birdiebirdiepar finish to join the group at 69.
Dustin Johnson took double bogey on the par5 11th and eagled the par5 16th in his round of 73. Jordan Spieth missed only two fairways and had to settle for a 70.