PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The list of winners of The Players Championship is long and illustrious. The list of came-out-of-nowhere- day-one-leaders is impressive as well.
Through the years, many a player has gone to sleep atop the leader board, only to disappear by the weekend. This year’s candidate to overcome that history is William McGirt, who shot an opening round 5-under par, 67 Thursday morning at the Players Championship.
Recommended Videos
McGirt did it in historic fashion, becoming just the sixth man to eagle both par 5s on the back nine, numbers 11 and 16, en route to his best round at the Stadium Course. Instead of coming to TPC Sawgrass on Monday, McGirt flew to Muirfield Village, Ohio to take part in media day at the Memorial, where he won his only career PGA Tour victory in 2016. The lack of practice time on the Stadium Course didn’t faze him on Thursday.
“I don't know that you can really learn this golf course, because the thing with this place is you hit one that lands four, five feet off the putting surface, there's no telling what's going to happen to it,” McGirt said. “It's a matter of getting away with it and somehow getting lucky when you do miss a shot.”
McGirt is not a major name, but his story is not an unfamiliar one in the game of golf. He honed his game on the Tar Heel Tour, a minor league tour in and around his home state of North Carolina. Lately, the 37-year-old has found himself contending in some substantial tournaments. After winning the Memorial last year he finished in the top 10 in three tournaments in 2017, including a third place finish at the Heritage in Hilton Head.
“It's amazing what a little bit of confidence will do,” McGirt said. “The win last year was huge for my confidence, and then playing well at the PGA last fall, kind of proved to myself that, hey, I can play golf at the Major Championship level. And then obviously playing well for the first two and a half days at Augusta. So more than anything, it's more of a confidence thing that you take away from it.”
The leader board lacked the big name punch that typically shows up by the weekend at the Players. J.B. Holmes and Alex Noren were a stroke back at 4-under par after matching 68s. Noren was the only golfer in the morning groups to turn in a bogey-free round.
One of the changes on the course this year included the shortening of the par-4 12th whole that played at a drivable 305 yards on Thursday. Eight players went for the green on the par-4 12th hole but most golfers said after the round that the newly renovated hole offers more risk than reward to go for it off the tee.
“I think I'm going to try to lay it up and wedge it in there and give myself four good looks at birdie and if I only make one or two of them, so be it,” said Jacksonville Beach resident David Lingmerth, who sits two back minus-3 after a 69. “But I'm going to try to get as many looks for birdie as I can and not risk hitting in that water.”
Many golfers have just begun their rounds including world No. 1 golfer Dustin Johnson and Masters Champion Sergio Garcia.
Defending champion Jason Day was five under through 11 holes before bogeying three of his last four holes to finish at two under (70).