PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Ben Crane should have known what was coming when he rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the first hole of the day. He kept right on pouring them in until he had a 7-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead in The Players Championship.
Crane made four birdie putts longer than 20 feet, kept his ball on land throughout another wild opening round Thursday on the TPC Sawgrass and wound up atop a leaderboard devoid of the biggest stars.
Tiger Woods couldn’t make a putt outside 4 feet.
Phil Mickelson ran off three straight birdies early in his round, then couldn’t keep the ball in play.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia opened with a 71 and already was looking forward to going home to Spain. Crane couldn’t relate.
“It’s one of those rounds that you just live for when you’re a golfer,” Crane said. “And I had one today at one of my favorite courses and tournaments of all time.”
He had a one-shot lead over John Mallinger, Alex Cejka and Richard S. Johnson, with a large group at 67 that included Retief Goosen, David Toms, Camilo Villegas and Scott Verplank, who had two eagles.
Woods opened his round with four straight birdie chances inside 12 feet and missed them all. He wound up with a 71, keeping alive his streak of never breaking 70 in the opening round at this elite event.
Mickelson hit iron off the 18th tee but it worked out beautifully with an approach to 5 feet for birdie to salvage a 73.
“Looked like it was going to be a great round,” Mickelson said. “And then it just kind of went away.”
Ochoa off to fast start
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Lorena Ochoa parlayed eight birdies and one bogey into a 7-under 64 and a one-shot lead over Lindsey Wright after the first round of the Michelob Ultra Open.
Hee-Won Han, Sarah Lee and Minea Blomqvist shot 66s to share third place, while Seon Hwa Lee, Na Yeon Choi and Amy Yang had 67s.
In all, 45 of 144 players took advantage of the soft greens and broke par.
“I hate to say it, but I will say it because it’s not every day you get to say, ‘I had an easy 6-under,’ ” Wright said, laughing.
Maybin’s 64 leads Italian Open
TURIN — Gareth Maybin of Northern Ireland shot a course record 7-under 64 to take a three-shot lead after the first round of the Italian Open.
John Daly shot a 2-under 69 despite two closing bogeys on the Royal Park I Roveri course.
The Associated Press
