PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Phil Mickelson hit a shot onto the green and it rolled into the water. Ben Crane hit a shot over an island and it wound up on dry land. Tiger Woods played the shortest tournament of his career.
Even on a relatively calm day, there’s no predicting what might happen at The Players Championship.
The strangest sight of all Thursday was Woods, limping off the ninth green and heading to the parking lot, but not before making a detour to a fitness trailer with a sign painted on the side that said, “Is knee pain holding you back?” Nine holes into his first tournament since the Masters — where Woods said he had a “minor injury” to his left knee and Achilles — he couldn’t go on. He withdrew after a 42 on the front nine, his highest nine-hole score ever at the TPC Sawgrass.
“I’m having a hard time walking,” he said.
Nick Watney and so many others made it look easy, even though it rarely is on this crazy course.
One week after he missed the cut for the first time in nearly a year, Watney opened with an 8-under-par 64 for a one-shot lead over Lucas Glover. Not only was it Watney’s best score at Sawgrass by four shots, he had a double bogey early in his round.
“Last week in Charlotte, I got off to a bad start and I never really righted the ship,” Watney said. “So today to have a bad hole like that and still play a good round is a rewarding feeling, just because I didn’t let it affect the rest of my day.”
Mark O’Meara, a 54-year- old who qualified by winning the Senior Players Championship, returned to Sawgrass for the first time since 2003 and opened with a 66.
The last time O’Meara had a score that low on this course, Woods was still in high school. He’s not very long off the tee, but this is one golf course that is not all about length.
“Even when I went to dinner with Tiger last night, my wife Meredith said, ‘How’s Mark hitting it?’ He says, ‘Short.’ OK, yeah, I’m not 32 and strong,” O’Meara said. “But I hit it far enough.”
Bourdy leads in Spain
SON SEVERA, Spain — Gregory Bourdy shot a 7-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Iberdrola Open.
The Associated Press
