Day 1 review: THE PLAYERS Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A quick look at Thursday’s water-logged opening round at THE PLAYERS Championship.

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THE LEADERS

FLEETWOOD STARTS STRONG SANS BEARD: Amidst a hiatus from his signature beard, Tommy Fleetwood’s game is trending upward. After narrowly gaining THE PLAYERS entry via his spot on the Official World Golf Ranking, the Englishman carded an opening-round 66 including a chip-in birdie from 49 feet on the par-4 18th (his ninth), currently playing as the most difficult hole in Round 1. Fleetwood stood No. 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking after a missed cut at The Honda Classic, satisfying the top-50 criteria albeit barely. He finished T20 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after making the cut on the number, and the road to redemption continues – clean-shaven and all. “It was like, ‘Break some golf clubs or shave my beard,’” Fleetwood laughed, “then I went for the beard.”

HOGE EMBRACES THE GRIND: North Dakota native Tom Hoge earned his first PGA TOUR title at last month’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the adopted Texan hasn’t slowed down. Hoge entered THE PLAYERS at No. 3 on the FedExCup, and he matched Fleetwood’s opening 6-under 66 to share the overnight lead. The 32-year-old currently leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (+5.036).

STORYLINES

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY: Heavy rain and thunderstorms across northeast Florida necessitated two weather delays to the opening round of THE PLAYERS. Play commenced at 7:45 a.m. ET after an initial one-hour delay. Play was halted again at 11 a.m. ET, resumed at 3:15 p.m. ET, and was suspended due to darkness at 6:36 p.m. ET. Sixty-nine of 144 players completed the opening round, with 12 players yet to tee off. The opening round will resume at 7:15 a.m. ET Friday.

THE GOOD AND THE BAD: Golf giveth and golf taketh away. Harold Varner III’s day started with a fortuitous break and ended with a frustrating finish. After Varner’s ball plugged on the opening hole, Ryan Goble, the caddie for Will Zalatoris, found Varner’s ball with about five seconds to spare before Varner would have had to declare a lost ball and take a stroke-and-distance penalty. Varner made par on the hole, then rolled off seven birdies and no bogeys over the next 15. He was alone in the lead before becoming the first player of the week to hit his tee shot into the water at 17. He made triple-bogey en route to a 69 . “It's a game. That's why we play it. No one is going to die out there. I've always said that,” Varner said. “Just was in between clubs and didn't execute the shot, and that's what you get a lot out here. Either you get it done or you don't.”

POULTER’S RUNNING FINISH: Multiple weather delays Thursday caused the latter groups of the first wave to play into near darkness. Ian Poulter wasn’t to be denied, though. Upon sticking his tee shot to 4 feet at the par-3 17th, the veteran Englishman sprinted to the green as the crowd roared. He tapped in, acknowledged the fans and ran to the 18th tee. The group ahead cleared the fairway, allowing Poulter to tee off before the horn blew. Poulter completed the opening round, as did his playing partners Pat Perez and Jhonattan Vegas.

NOTABLES

JON RAHM (69): World No. 1 has made the cut in all four of his PLAYERS appearances, coming off his best finish (T9) in 2021.

VIKTOR HOVLAND (71): World No. 3 played his first 14 holes in 4-under before a double bogey at the par-4 sixth and a closing bogey at the par-5 ninth.

WILL ZALATORIS (69): Broke 70 despite a closing double bogey at No. 18. Three top-seven finishes in his last five TOUR starts.

PATRICK CANTLAY (72): World No. 4 is aiming for redemption after missed cuts in his last two PLAYERS starts. Best finish in four starts is T22 (2017).

KEITH MITCHELL (67): Stands T3, having entered the week with five top-12s in his last seven starts.

COLLIN MORIKAWA (1-under thru 2): World No. 2 hit tee shot to 5 feet at par-3 third hole before play was suspended due to darkness, playing alongside defending PLAYERS champion Justin Thomas and 2019 champion Rory McIlroy, each even-par through two holes.

WORTH WATCHING

BY THE NUMBERS

4.362 – Scoring average at par-4 18th hole, currently playing as most difficult hole in Round 1.

1 – Players to complete a bogey-free round Thursday (Kramer Hickok; 5-under 67).

6 – Back-nine birdies by Maverick McNealy, en route to opening-round, 2-under 70.

1 – Ball in water on No. 17 (69 players completed the hole Thursday).

5 – Players to tee off Thursday but not complete a hole (Si Woo Kim, Matt Kuchar, Henrik Stenson, Brice Garnett, Adam Hadwin). Twelve players have yet to tee off.