The opening round of The Players Championship is always a joy, and Thursday’s effort in the 2021 edition of the event did not disappoint. This time, a year ago, all the talk was about whether there really was be a round 2. This time, it’s all about golf, which is a good postponement 12 months later.
Sergio Garcia launched the day’s round (and perhaps the tournament) with 65 at the beginning, which we will see next. And while several stars fought hard (let’s dive into that too), Sergio is a great epicenter at the top of the board after 18 holes of play.
It was clear earlier in the day that the 63 that Hideki Matsuyama shot in the first round last year, before the event was canceled, was nowhere to be found and achieving anything in the 1960s would be Herculean. TPC Sawgrass played a little smoothly, but also extremely fast, and Garcia later said that finding the spin on the greens was incredibly difficult.
The 17th, which was always the protagonist of this tournament, certainly did not play soft. Justin Thomas, who shot 71, said after his round that it looked like they had that hole a little bit marked. There was a 9 for Kevin Na and an 11 for Ben An. The last two holes on the course – also the most famous – played almost 1 stroke over the combined pair, and those who started on the first tee had a distressing closing experience, although Garcia has played pair.
The first round game was suspended due to darkness, leaving around two dozen golfers who will need to play a few extra holes before starting the second round on Friday. For now, let’s take a look at Sergio’s first round and also who’s chasing him (and who won’t be coming over the weekend).
1. Sergio Garcia (-7): Although the 65 may not fully convey this, on a day when the average score almost rose to 74, it was an all-round round by one of the best golfers in the history of the Players’ Championship. Sergio made two eagles, including one in the last (9th in progress) to put himself in the driver’s seat and become only the second player since 2004 to win this event for the second time (Tiger Woods in 2013 was the other). Garcia has been shaking from the tee to the green so far in 2021, and on Thursday, he almost led the field in the put. He expects even more difficult conditions on the way home so that the hitting of the ball continues to shine.
2. Brian Harman (-5): In pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory since 2017, Harman recovered from an up and down start over the top nine, going 5 down the back to post a 67 on the day. He is in a good position on the 2nd floor, but will have to regain his consistency in the last three rounds if he wants.
T3. Shane Lowry, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Corey Conners (-4): An interesting fact here about Lowry is that the last time he won a PGA Tour event was at the 2019 Open Championship, in which Rory McIlroy opened with 79 and missed the cut. Rory opened at 79 on Thursday and is likely to miss the cut. All five of Lowry’s professional victories came on weekends without Rory. I don’t know why I find this so interesting. Fitzpatrick and Conners are two contrasting players who did it the opposite way they normally do. Fitzpatrick has an elite short game, but he led the field from tee to green on Thursday. Conners is an unreal ball striker, but he has won almost 3 strokes with his club. Both fought last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and both are hard-field players (albeit for different reasons).
T6. Lee Westwood, Tom Hoge, Denny McCarthy, Bryson DeChambeau (-3): Bryson was great again, but he wasn’t just a driver all day. His shot at No. 17 was incredible. The pin back, and it hit back left on the right on the catwalk and just lifted up before sinking the 12 feet for birdie. As I noted last week, the driver gives him room to maneuver, but his ability to get on and off the bag is immense. Excited to see what the next few days will be like.
T11. Gary Woodland, Keegan Bradley, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed (-2): I didn’t see that round coming from Spieth. Not even, I didn’t see this round coming. And the way he built it was even more shocking. Even in his resurgence, he still struggles with the pilot, but he led the field in strokes won on Thursday on a course with a ton of water where he fought in the past. He was more than 4 strokes better on the tee than McIlroy, who is perhaps the best driver in golf history. Spieth winning The Players after the race he did during the first months of 2021 would be perfection.
T26. Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson, Collin Morikawa (-1): Some nails in this category. JT was solid throughout the bag, and I was especially compelled by the way he hit the driver. This has been killing his rounds lately, but he streaked on Thursday and birded in three of the last eight to stay on Friday (and beyond).
T42. Jon Rahm (L) and T59. Dustin Johnson (+1): Both were better than the field average, but they also expect to be much better than that. Rahm actually needed the pair on the last to get to the house below the pair after a 39 on the front, but he missed a short 5 feet. DJ struggled with his irons all day after correcting the driver for a difficult stretch of five rounds. He doubled the par 5 in 11th, which is like losing 3 strokes to him. It is not out of this, but he will probably need something in the 60s tomorrow.
T140. Rory McIlroy (+7): The reading is bad, but it looks worse. Rory doubled his first hole and hit two in the water on his 9th (the 18th on TPC Sawgrass) before making a quadruple. There were no fringes of hope, and now he will have to shoot 67 or 68 on Friday just to see the weekend. His floor remained very high, even when he insisted that he is fighting. On Thursday, rock bottom fell.