PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.
Rory McIlroy didn't break par at the TPC Sawgrass until his fourth appearance in The Players, including the year after he won the U.S. Open.
The Canadian rookie shook his head and laughed. "I love the golf course and if I manage to play well, I should have a chance on Sunday".
"There's just not really a moment where you can let up", Hughes said. Scott followed by spinning a shot off the bank and into the water for a double bogey, and he compounded that with another double bogey.
At least he had company. Cantlay had hit his first 17 greens in regulation Thursday before missing the green at 18. As Day lined up a tough wedge shot over a bunker, several rounds of loud shouts went around as the Aussie just went ahead and played up and onto the green through the noise.
He made his first eagle with a 55-foot putt at the par-five 11th before sinking a 10-footer at the par-five 16th. Only twice did he have par putts longer than 3 feet, and he made them both. To chip out sideways would risk chipping into the water. He found a 4-foot wide window in which he had to keep it under on branch and go over two more. It was a large enough gap and the flawless shot for a 6-iron. Previous year I felt like I was close.
Fred Funk, the 2005 Players champion who won under some of the most hard weather conditions in tournament history, came down squarely on the side of keeping the event in May, rather than moving it to March, which the PGA Tour is considering.
And previous year, Jason Day combined driving distance (311.6 yards per measured drive, a tournament record) with the best scrambling percentage in the field (he made par on 85 percent of the holes where he missed the green) and a bogey-free performance in 36 holes on the back nine that had never before been done by a Players champion.
Among those at 68 were Spain's Jon Rahm. Even with a mild wind in the afternoon, just over a third of the field broke par. From Greg Norman's wizardry in 1994, when he shot a course-record 264, to Ray Floyd's masterful finish in THE PLAYERS' first playoff against Barry Jaeckel and fellow Hall of Fame Member Curtis Strange in 1981, setting the tournament record for the best comeback win at six strokes.
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The two biggest names to make a run at the top of the board in the morning wave were Rickie Fowler and Jason Day.
"Finishing under par is a good finish", said Johnson, who has won three times and tied for second in his last four starts.
Day trailed by three shots after three bogeys in his final four holes, with Phil Mickelson also two-under. The ball cracked into one of the several palm trees abutting the right side of the green, hit a cart path, and bounded behind a wine stand.
It'll be fascinating to see just how the Spaniard approaches the tournament having finally got over the line in one of the big four events. "I want to one-putt", Johnson said, and then he smiled and held up his index finger to show his ranking.
Garcia's round was different.
He ended up three-putting from there and making double bogey, and he was so incensed by his circumstances he snapped a cell phone pic of the bunker problem.
Day was playing his first individual event since a 22nd-place finish at the Masters.
"I feel like I'm playing really well right now", Johnson said. "I know what's going to happen around this place".
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