Ramey leads Morikawa after blistering 64 at TPC Sawgrass

Consider Chad Ramey's first trip around TPC Sawgrass a massive success.

The 30-year-old looked like a seasoned veteran at the challenging layout Thursday as he fired an 8-under 64 to lead Collin Morikawa by one stroke at The Players Championship.

Ramey went bogey-free around the diabolical Pete Dye design, highlighting his round with an electric birdie at the island green on the par-3 17th. That put him in the solo lead, one ahead of Morikawa.

Despite the impressive performance, Ramey was quick to shoot down any talk about TPC Sawgrass playing below its usual level.

"Not easy at all. I might have made it look that way, but it wasn't easy at all," Ramey said, according to ASAP Sports. "It was fun, first time to shoot a score on such an iconic course like this. You can't ask for any more."

Play was suspended due to darkness at 6:28 p.m. local time and will resume Friday morning at 7:40 a.m. Justin Suh is the only player high on the leaderboard still yet to finish; the talented 25-year-old has a 28-footer for eagle on No. 16 that can vault him into a tie for second.

The early conditions Thursday were very favorable, as the morning wave took dead aim at TPC Sawgrass. Eleven of the top 18 players on the leaderboard finished their rounds before the afternoon, including Ramey, Morikawa and Taylor Pendrith.

The blockbuster trio of Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, and Rory McIlroy headlined the early action, with the top three players in the world heading out before 8 a.m. Scheffler looked solid throughout his round to lead the way at 4-under, while Rahm overcame putting woes to get in under par with a 71.

McIlroy struggled from the jump, double-bogeying his first hole en route to a 4-over 76. This marks the 2019 Players champion's worst opening round on the PGA TOUR since the 2021 Masters.

After hitting just 6-of-14 fairways, McIlroy highlighted the thick rough as one of the main reasons he struggled to score well on Thursday.

"I feel like this is as penal as I've seen it out of the rough for a long time," the four-time major champion said, according to ASAP Sports. "I think you'd have to go back to when the tournament was played in May, when we were in Bermuda rough, for it to be as penal as that. Yeah, you don't hit it on the fairway here, you're going to struggle."

Jordan Spieth led the afternoon featured group over Justin Thomas and Max Homa. The three-time major winner fired a 3-under 69 to sit in a tie for 12th, while Homa shot even par for the day.

Thomas, the 2021 champion, finished at 1-over 73, his first over-par score at TPC Sawgrass since the opening round in 2018.