Players Championship analysis: What to know on Rory McIlroy, Lucas Glover and more

New York Times

14-03-2025

Birdie runs halted by crooked numbers. Unexpected names surging to the top of the Round 1 leaderboard. Many of the world's best players left flustered by Pete and Alice Dye's grand examination.
The Players promises the unforeseen on an annual basis. Round 1 did not disappoint in that regard.
Here are the top numbers and notes to know from Thursday at TPC Sawgrass.
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1. A trio of PGA Tour veterans share the lead after Round 1: Lucas Glover, Camilo Villegas and J.J. Spaun. In what is typical Players Championship fashion, none of these three men would have been forecasted for great success this week – before today, they were a combined 87-over-par in their Players careers, with nearly three times as many rounds spent outside the top-100 on the leaderboard as inside the top 10.
Glover, 45, has long been an elite striker of the golf ball with a beleaguered existence on the greens. A switch to a long putter a few years back spurred a career renaissance, as he picked up wins in back-to-back weeks in August 2023. But today's performance rolling the ball was an entirely different level of execution. Glover made all three of his looks from 10 to 15 feet away, holing 120 feet and 11 inches of putts in all – nearly 50 feet more than his season average.
2. Villegas, 43, shot his first round in the 60s at TPC Sawgrass since 2009 – a span of 5,789 days. His score was jolted by three hole outs from off the green, the lone player in the field to do that on Thursday. Can the former Florida Gator keep it going? This is the third time in his last four starts to begin a tournament with a round of 66 – but he did not contend on Sunday either of the previous two weeks.
Spaun was bogey-free, one of just five such rounds in the clubhouse on Day 1. Spaun entered the week averaging four bogeys or worse per round in his Players career, scrambling at a paltry rate of 42.5 percent. Hitting 15 greens in regulation is a surefire way to help those around the green woes.
3. Rory McIlroy pieced together a round of 67 despite hitting just four of 14 fairways in Round 1. The rare round tied the record for lowest score by a player who hit four or fewer fairways (Charley Hoffman, 2021 final round). McIlroy would be hard-pressed to replicate that kind of scoring again with a wild driver: in his previous nine career rounds hitting six or fewer fairways at The Players, McIlroy had a scoring average of 73.8.
On the positive side, McIlroy continued his hot streak on the greens that he enjoyed last week in Orlando. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy picked up more than 4.3 strokes putting for the week. Thursday, he picked up 2.7 more, ninth-best in the field.
Not all pars are created equal.#THEPLAYERS | @MinWoo27Lee pic.twitter.com/RS1WpGTUgB
— THE PLAYERS (@THEPLAYERS) March 13, 2025
4. A bogey at the 10th hole Thursday snapped Scottie Scheffler's bogey-free streak around this place at 40 straight. No matter, he started a new one at the 11th, wrapping up with a 3-under-par 69. Scheffler has now shot nine consecutive sub-70 rounds at The Players, extending his record streak. The world number one was well into red numbers today despite losing strokes to the field on the greens.
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Scheffler missed just four fairways on Thursday. If he continues that kind of accuracy off the tee, his presence on Sunday feels inevitable. Over the last three years at The Players, he has hit 93 fairways on par 4s and 5s. He has gone on to bogey just three of those holes.
5. Min Woo Lee was cooking early on Thursday, making five birdies for a front nine 31. Lee had one of the greatest weeks of his young career two years ago at this championship, finishing in a tie for sixth place. Lee wasn't afraid to pull driver on Day 1: he averaged 303.8 yards on all of his tee shots (par 4s and 5s), highest of any player in the field.
Florida man Billy Horschel birdied four of his last five holes Thursday to also post 67, tying his career-low round at TPC Sawgrass (Sunday in 2014). Horschel made nine birdies in the opening round, tied with Glover for most of any player in the field. In 11 previous starts at this championship, he has never finished in the top 10.
6. While it wasn't visually obvious – no storms or crazy winds to speak of – the difference in scoring for the morning and afternoon tee times was significant. The early half of the draw shot 73.31, while the afternoon averaged 71.15 – the largest differential in any single Thursday/Friday round at The Players over the last 20 years. Eleven of the 12 worst scores in the clubhouse today came from the early side of the tee times.
7. Alex Smalley might be the best player on the PGA Tour in 2025 that you've never heard of. Another round in the 60s at TPC Sawgrass and he might not live under a cloak of anonymity much longer.
Smalley's six previous starts this season on the PGA Tour seem unassuming on the surface: five finishes ranging from 10th to T21. That early-season consistency, though, has put him in some lofty statistical company. He's second on the PGA Tour in scoring average, two spots ahead of Scheffler. He's third in strokes gained total, behind only Collin Morikawa and McIlroy. He's in the top-five in both total driving and total putting.
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The 28-year-old Duke product is making his 106th career PGA Tour start this week. He has a pair of runner-up finishes and eight additional top 10s to date.
8. Jordan Spieth gave his fans the full rollercoaster experience on Thursday: two eagles, three birdies, three bogeys and a double. Spieth was sensational chipping and pitching the ball, gaining nearly four strokes on the field around the green. In more than 20 years of ShotLink-era statistics, only five rounds featured more strokes gained around the green than Spieth earned Thursday.
Chandler Phillips certainly had a memorable Players debut. In his first career round at TPC Sawgrass, Phillips did something none of the 18,000-plus previous competitors could: make three eagles in a round. Phillips, who closed his round on the front side, posted the rare 3-6-3 finish.
9. As it is prone to do, TPC Sawgrass generated plenty of frustration for some of the world's best players on Thursday.
Justin Thomas hit just five greens in regulation, tying his fewest in a PGA Tour round in his career. Max Homa didn't make a birdie until his 16th hole of the day and carded 79. Viktor Hovland shot 80 on Thursday, his worst ever opening round as a pro. Matt Fitzpatrick finished his round triple-double – good in other sports in March, less so here.
10. Has the 17th at Sawgrass gone soft? When play was called due to darkness, there were just 11 balls in the water for the day. It marked the seventh straight Players round with 13 or fewer into the drink at 17. There were 35 in the water in the opening round in 17 as recently as 2021.
Fifteen of the last 17 Players champions were in the top-15 on the leaderboard after the opening round. The last 10 winners had a first round scoring average of 67.2, with the worst of that group being a 71 by Justin Thomas in 2021.
(Top photo of Rory McIlroy: Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)