Villegas, Glover, Spaun share Players lead; McIlroy 1 back
Camilo Villegas, Lucas Glover, and J.J. Spaun share the 18-hole lead at The Players after rounds of 66, but it's the star-studded chasers grabbing the attention at TPC Sawgrass.
Rory McIlroy's closing birdie from the pine straw on the 18th saw him vault into a three-way tie for fourth alongside Min Woo Lee, Billy Horschel, Max McGreevy and Akshay Bhatia. That quintet is just one shot off the pace set by Glover in the morning and matched by Spaun and Villegas in the afternoon before play was halted because of darkness.
Rickie Fowler - who registered the biggest win of his career in 2015 at this event - headlines the pack at 4-under, while Scottie Scheffler's quest for a third consecutive Players Championship started with a 3-under 67.
| PLACE | PLAYER | ROUND 1 SCORE | TOTAL TO PAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Lucas Glover | 66 | -6 |
| T-1 | Camilo Villegas | 66 | -6 |
| T-1 | J.J. Spaun | 66 | -6 |
| T-4 | Rory McIlroy | 67 | -5 |
| T-4 | Billy Horschel | 67 | -5 |
| T-4 | Min Woo Lee | 67 | -5 |
| T-4 | Akshay Bhatia | 67 | -5 |
| T-4 | Max McGreevy | thru 16 | -5 |
| T-9 | Rickie Fowler | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Alex Smalley | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Aaron Rai | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Stephan Jaeger | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Bud Cauley | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Denny McCarthy | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Emiliano Grillo | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Laurie Canter | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Chandler Phillips | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Sam Ryder | 68 | -4 |
| T-9 | Trey Mullinax | 68 | -4 |
Glover provided the early fireworks with four birdies in a row to finish his morning round. He was briefly passed by Villegas before the Colombian slipped back to 6-under to match Spaun with late 66s. According to Justin Ray of the Twenty-First Group, Glover and Villegas are the first pair older than 40 to share the lead after a round at The Players.
While Glover had the lowest morning score, Jordan Spieth was the most electric player on the course with two chip-in eagles on a wild opening nine that saw him finish with a 2-under 70.
The conditions improved greatly for the afternoon wave, with McIlroy immediately making an impact with two birdies on his opening two holes. He eventually posted a 67 despite hitting just four fairways all day.
"Yeah, I certainly didn't drive it the way I wanted to. ... I'm not going to be able to get away with it for the rest of the week. Sort of rode my luck out there a little bit," McIlroy said after the round.
Scheffler already made history last year as the first repeat winner in the event's history, but he insisted that wasn't on his mind heading into Thursday's round.
"When it comes to tournament to tournament, going into today, I didn't think at all about last year," Scheffler acknowledged. "Last year doesn't truly matter when it comes to this tournament. This is a new four rounds and 72 holes, and today I got off to a good start. Like I said, I feel like I could have posted a little bit of a better number, but overall I'm pleased with the results. I did some good things that I'll look to hone in and maybe shoot a little lower tomorrow."
While McIlroy and Scheffler are among the big names in contention, plenty of top players went the other way in the morning wave that played more than two strokes harder.
Justin Thomas was among that list, as the 2021 champion made two double-bogeys and tripled the 18th en route to a 6-over 78. According to Rick Gehman of CBS Sports, Thomas lost more than 9 strokes ball-striking Thursday - the worst showing in one round of his illustrious career.
He's joined near the bottom by Max Homa and Viktor Hovland, who sit at 7- and 8-over, respectively.