Fit but ‘rusty’ McIlroy off round one Players’ pace

The Players Championship, round one leaderboard

-5 S Straka (Aut), M McNealy (US), L Hodges (US), S Theegala (US), A Smotherman (US)*; -4 J Thomas (US), R Henley (US), T Moore (US), C Young (US)

Selected: -3 T Fleetwood (Eng), L Aberg (Swe), V Hovland (Nor); -2 M Fitzpatrick (Eng); Level R MacIntyre (Sco), J Rose (Eng), S Scheffler (US); +2 R McIlroy (NI); +3 M Penge (Eng); +4 S Lowry (Ire)

* denotes yet to finish round one

Full leaderboard

Rory McIlroy recovered sufficiently from a back injury to begin his defence of the Players Championship but he ended round one seven shots off the pace.

The world number two only arrived at TPC Sawgrass on the eve of the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament, having opted to stay at home for treatment on the injury that forced him to pull out of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

He showed no obvious signs of discomfort in crushing his opening drive 329 yards down the middle of the fairway, but he took 73 more shots for a two-over par total, with birdie putts on the 16th and 17th holes grazing the edge of the cup.

“It was fine,” he said when asked how his back felt during the round.

“The most discomfort was when the ball was below my feet or with chipping.

“But it’s weird. I played on Friday; it’s not as if I’ve taken a ton of time off, I just felt unbelievably rusty out there.”

McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Sepp Straka is alongside three Americans setting the clubhouse pace on five under.

Austrian Straka chipped in for an eagle three on the par-five 16th in his bogey-free 67 to join Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges and Sahith Theegala atop the leaderboard.

“We were fortunate to play in the afternoon with hardly any wind and the greens a lot softer,” said Straka, referring to the heavy rain that doused the course earlier in the day.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood was among those playing in the worst of the weather. He briefly reached five under, after what he called a “complete bonus” run of eagle-birdie-birdie on Sawgrass’ notoriously difficult 16th, 17th and 18th holes.

Having started on the 10th, the world number three then birdied the second but a torrential downpour that halted play for around 25 minutes checked his momentum, and successive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes dropped him back into the pack.

He is in good company on three under, with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, Norwegian Viktor Hovland and American Xander Schauffele also enjoying solid starts.

The rain delay meant four players were unable to finish their opening rounds as the sun set and darkness fell.

Among them is unheralded American Austin Smotherman, who will return at 08:50 local time on Friday to face a 15-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole – his 18th – to take the first-round lead.

No golfer has won the Players after an opening round of 74 or worse.

That stat will not unduly trouble McIlroy but it does highlight the task facing him, particularly as his tee-time for round two is 08:52 local time (12:52 GMT), giving him less time to rest his back after being among the late starters on Thursday.

McIlroy said on Wednesday that he was confident he will not aggravate the injury by playing this week, with the first major of the year, the Masters, four weeks away.

“It’s not structural, it’s not joint – it’s purely a muscular sort of discomfort and fatigue,” he said.

“Obviously I’ll listen to the professionals. But there’s nothing that I can do that’s going to harm that.”

He had one birdie, on the sixth, but bogeys on the fourth, fifth and 11th saw him sign for a 74.

McIlroy is hoping to join Jack Nicklaus as a three-time winner of the event, having also won the title in 2019 – and the first to win all three of them at Sawgrass.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, the first to win successive titles in 2023 and 2024, is also chasing a third victory. But he had an erratic start with four birdies cancelled out by four bogeys as he opened with a level-par 72.

While McIlroy has been able to shake off his back injury, Collin Morikawa was forced to pull out with an issue of his own.

The American, who came into this week as one of the favourites after winning at Pebble Beach last month and finishing fifth at Bay Hill last week, completed just one hole before calling it a day on the tee for his second hole.

“I felt fine in warm-up and teed it up on 11, took one practice swing, and I just knew it was gone. It just sucks,” he said.

However, there was a return to form for his compatriot and fellow two-time major winner Justin Thomas, who is in the group one off the lead at four under par.

Thomas, who won this event in 2021, missed the cut last week after posting two rounds of 79, but he opened with three successive birdies and, after a couple of mid-round bogeys, had three more in his closing five holes to sit alongside fellow Americans Cameron Young, Russell Henley and Taylor Moore.

“Last week was my first tournament in six months, but I was able to knock a lot of rust off,” said Thomas.

“I want to play well and try win, but my main goal is getting through these weeks and really feeling like I’m not having to try so hard to be in a good place at Augusta.”

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick mixed six birdies with four bogeys to be one of 13 players on two under.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre joined Scheffler on level par, as did England’s Justin Rose, who could scarcely believe he missed a short birdie putt on the 18th.