PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Sepp Straka saved par seven times and chipped in for eagle late in his round Thursday while avoiding big trouble on the TPC Sawgrass for a 5-under 67 that gave him a share of the lead at The Players Championship amid wind, rain, sunshine and darkness.
Whether he remained top the leaderboard with Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges and Sahith Theegala would not be determined until Friday morning.
Austin Smotherman was at 5 under
and had a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole, the par-5 ninth. It looked as though he might try to finish, but when two players in his group ran into trouble and darkness thickened, he stuck tees in the ground to mark it until the morning.
“Do I wish I hit the chip in the morning as well? Went back and forth,” Smotherman said. “The fact I was even questioning it, I probably should have maybe backed off.”
The 12 hours of golf was enough time for plenty of theatrics — 38 balls in the water along the three closing holes on the Stadium Course, two eagles from the fairway and a downpour that led to a 21-minute delay. By the afternoon, rain gave way to the sun casting shadows within minutes.
Rory McIlroy said he never doubted he would play after missing the Bay Hill weekend with back spasms on Saturday. He felt no pain except for the putter, failing to make anything longer than 6 feet in his round of 74.
Instead, the back problems fell to Collin Morikawa. He has been among the top players this season and withdrew after one hole. He felt his back seize up during a practice swing. Ryan Fox never made it to the course. The illness he cited upon withdrawing turned out to be kidney stones that had to be surgically removed.
The pain for Scottie Scheffler was his fourth opening round in his last five tournaments without breaking par. He struggled to find the fairway and spent more than hour on the range in a downpour after his 72.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was no one — depending on Smotherman's putt Friday morning — was lower than 67. The last time 67 was leading The Players was in 2017.
“No one went really low this afternoon, which I expected them to, just because the conditions were pretty benign,” McIlroy said in assessing his score and realizing he's not out of it.
Straka managed to go bogey-free, with some serious scrambling on the back nine. He saved par with a 12-foot putt on No. 10, hit into the water with his second shot on the par-5 11 and escaped with par with another 12-foot putt. He chipped in from 50 feet for his eagle on the par-5 16th, and then clipped a wedge to tap-in range from 67 yards out in the fairway on the 18th.
“I felt like all day I was playing from the rough, which is not ideal out here,” Straka said. “Fortunately my iron play and wedge play was pretty nice today, and I was able to make a lot of putts to save some pars.”
Theegala, who made three straight birdies early, ran into trouble from the left bunker for bogey on the par-5 ninth and then turned his fortunes around when his wedge from just under 100 yards rammed into the cup for eagle on No. 12.
“For it to crash into the pin and go in is pretty cool. It’s a nice bonus,” Theegala said.
The attention on backs were not just for Morikawa and McIlroy. Justin Thomas returned from back surgery in November last week at Bay Hill and shot 79-79. That felt like a distant memory when he opened with three straight birdies and wound up with a 68.
“Literally every single thing you could imagine I did quite a bit better,” Thomas said.
Cameron Young, who contended at Bay Hill last week, Russell Henley and Taylor Moore also were at 68. The group at 69 included Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau, who had four straight birdies and followed that with four straight bogeys.
Henley was lucky to finish his round, and had nothing to do with injury. He played in the morning during the brief delay, and it was raining so hard he dashed to the clubhouse from the nearby second green without realizing players were being held in place for the fast-moving storm.
Ben Griffin saved him by telling him play was starting, and Henley got back to the green.
That delay was enough to keep four players from finishing the round.
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