Tiger Woods On The Prowl; Scoring Abounds At The PLAYERS Championship

TPC Sawgrass is known as one of
architect Pete Dye‘s most challenging courses,
and it’s been known to stifle even the most
seasoned veterans. For the first day of The
PLAYERS Championship on Thursday, that
seemed to be the furthest thing from the
players’ minds.
Roberto Castro, who had missed seven cuts
this season, went out and tied the course
record of 63, finishing the day three strokes
ahead of his closest competitor. Rory McIlroy
is one of those players who shot 66 (tied with
Zach Johnson), marking his first under-par
round in seven trips to this tournament.
Then, of course, there is the player the whole
world is watching every time he steps onto the
course — Tiger Woods. Woods shot an
impressive 67 on Thursday, which most times
would have had him in a comfortable lead.
Still, with his first sub-70 first round ever at
this event, you have to like his chances to hold
up through the weekend.
At the time of this writing, Lee Westwood has
joined the group at the top of the leaderboard,
at least for the time being. So what’s making
the scoring go so low? Well, after the rains
rolled through over the weekend, the skies
have cleared and the Florida warmth is
opening up.
“The ball was going so far out there. Like on
18, I had 200 yards to the hole, and I hit a
little 8-iron in there and it flew flag high; 3-
woods were going over 300 yards; my 5-wood
was getting out there near 300. It’s so hot, so
warm, and you get the right wind, and it’s
going a long way.
“It shortens the course — and that
helps.” (Tiger Woods, from USA Today)
With scoring the way it’s going right now, the
cut could line be as low as -2 or even -3. If
that happens, some big names like Phil
Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, and Dustin
Johnson will have their work cut out for
them, as they all finished their first rounds at
or over par. Still, it’s a long day of golf, so it’ll
be interesting to see who takes control as the
day progresses.