by Jeff Skinner
THE PLAYERS Championship never fails to be an exciting tournament. With the TPC Sawgrass as the stage these golf playing actors supply us with plenty of drama, both tragic and comedic.
The leading man on day one turns out to be a former world number one who hasn’t done much on the PGA Tour lately. Martin Kaymer torched Pete Dye’s pride and joy like no one has before. His nine under 63 ties THE PLAYERS record but his front nine of seven under 29 stands alone as the lowest front nine score in PLAYERS history.
Kaymer played flawlessly on the front and knew he had it working today, “I didn’t make many mistakes. Today was a very special round.”
Youngster Russell Henley sits two off the lead and newcomer San-Moon Bae is three back of Kaymer. A group of eight golfers sit at five under par including Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Jordan Spieth.
Although TPC Sawgrass gave up some low scores today it wasn’t a walk in the park for everyone. In his pre-tournament press conference world number two, Adam Scott laughed and brushed aside the notion that he could overtake Tiger Woods and become world number one by not playing this week. He said he wanted to get to number one by playing. After today he may be rethinking his strategy.
Scott struggled with his putter today but rinsing two balls coming down the stretch may lead to his going home early this week. At the infamous 17th his short iron was just that, short. Short, right and very wet. He took double bogey.
On the 18th, which had been playing under par for the first time in years, he lost his drive way left into the lake and again left with double bogey, his third of the day. He finished with a back nine of 41 and a five over 77, fourteen shots off the lead.
Phil Mickelson fared better, for the day although just slightly. Phil’s three over 75 did him no good as far as challenging for the lead. His short clubs failed him today as his troublesome putter spread to his chipping game and he couldn’t manage to get up and down all day. He’s twelve shots back and will need to go low if he expects to play the weekend.
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