NOTES AND QUOTES – THE 2025 PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP ON GOLF CHANNEL (FIRST ROUND)

NBC Sports

13-03-2025

'He has been a magician today. When you've got that kind of talent, you can salvage it, even around Pete Dye's place.' – Dan Hicks on Rory McIlroy's 5-under 67 despite hitting just four of 14 fairways
Live From THE PLAYERS – Friday at 9 a.m. ET, Leading into Second Round Coverage at 1 p.m. ET on GOLF Channel
Rickie Fowler to Join Friday Afternoon's Happy Hour with Smylie Kaufman Alongside 17th Hole
STAMFORD, Conn. – March 13, 2025 – NBC Sports presented comprehensive coverage of the first round of The PLAYERS Championship from The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on GOLF Channel. Golf Central Live From THE PLAYERS followed with post-round coverage.
Dan Hicks, Terry Gannon and Steve Sands handled play-by-play duties, while Brad Faxon, Curt Byrum, Gary Koch, and Notah Begay III served as analysts. Jim 'Bones' Mackay, Smylie Kaufman, John Wood, and Roger Maltbie served as on-course reporters, while Cara Banks handled reports and interviews.
Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, Paul McGinley, and Todd Lewis, anchored Live From THE PLAYERS post-round coverage on GOLF Channel. Following are notes and quotes from today's coverage. Johnson Wagner did an on-course segment from left of the bunker on the 10th hole where Scottie Scheffler hit his drive in the first round.
Friday's coverage from TPC Sawgrass begins at 9 a.m. ET with Live From THE PLAYERS followed by live second round coverage at 1 p.m. ET. Rickie Fowler is scheduled to join Smylie Kaufman on tomorrow's edition of Happy Hour with Smylie from alongside the 17th hole.
The PLAYERS Championship – First Round Leaderboard
ON TPC SAWGRASS STADIUM COURSE AND CONDITIONS
Begay III on Pete Dye's design of the Stadium Course: 'He wanted to test players in all facets of the game. You've got to create angles, you must hit fairways, and you have to be on point from tee-to-green. If you are a little bit errant with a couple of shots, you've got to figure it out around these greens. There is trouble around every corner.'
Byrum on the island green 17th hole: 'It doesn't matter who it is, it's a nerve-racking tee shot.'
Begay III on players navigating the overhanging tree at the 6th tee: 'It's more so in your mind. When you have to come in here and you talk to a bunch of players throughout the week, everybody is understanding that they have to flatten out that tee shot just a touch.'
ON THE PASSING OF GOLF JOURNALIST JOHN FEINSTEIN
Dan Hicks on the passing of golf journalist John Feinstein: 'We've lost far too many media members in our golf business lately, so it is very sad to report the passing of noted golf writer John Feinstein this morning. Just one of the most notable sports writers of his time, author of 48 books. What golf fan did not read A Good Walk Spoiled? He was such a talented guy, in fact he spent time on our Live From set right here on this property as a broadcast colleague of ours. He will be missed.'
ON SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (-3, T-16th)
Byrum on Scheffler: 'He's the best ball-striker in the game and it'll bail him out on this course when he does miss greens. The key for him is going to be putting. He did not putt well last week at Bay Hill and he's going to need to turn that around if he wants to contend this week.'
Mackay on Scheffler: 'I didn't think – having watched Tiger Woods play in his prime – that I'd see a guy play as close to Tiger as this guy is. Certainly, he's not Tiger Woods, but he is an amazing player, and I think has a chance to get to double digit major wins.'
Mackay on Scheffler's mental strength: 'He just never lets anything bother him; he stays in the same headspace the entire time, no matter what's going on…The guy is a machine. He is amazing to watch play golf and go about his business.'
ON RORY MCILROY (-5, T-4th)
Hicks on McIlroy's round despite hitting just four of 14 fairways: 'He has been a magician today... when you've got that kind of talent, you can salvage it, even around Pete Dye's place.'
McGinley on Live From: 'He has got to fix his driving. He was 140th of the 144 players today in driving accuracy. He got lucky today. Every time he whiffed it into the teams, he seemed to have an angle to the greens.'
Chamblee on Live From on McIlroy's driving: 'He is not going to be anywhere near the top of this leaderboard of he continues to drive the ball the way he drove it today.'
Faxon on McIlroy's putting: 'I think that's one of the reasons why he's become a better putter. When you can accept the fact that you've done everything you thought you needed to do, even if the putt misses, you can walk away and say, 'I hit a good putt.' … Understanding that is important. A lot of players will start going searching after if they don't do it, and you've got to understand if you've done that, it's all you can control.'
ON LUCAS GLOVER (-6, T-1st)
Chamblee on the resurrection of Glover's career and his L.A.B. putter on Live From: 'He has been on the PGA TOUR for 22 years. He has fought the demons and the gremlins. Only five of 22 years has he even been in the top 100 in strokes gained putting...when I look back at the career of Lucas Glover, I want to talk about his spirit and how he has fought through it...he has come back and played some phenomenal golf...when you think of what he has gone through and how poorly he had putted, this is not the elephant in the room, this is the anaconda in the chandelier for crying out loud.'
ON MIN WOO LEE (-5, T-4th)
Lee to Cara Banks in walk-and-talk up the 12th fairway on playing in the final pairing alongside Scottie Scheffler at the 2023 PLAYERS Championship: 'I learned a lot. I think it was my first time that I was in the final group in America. There was a lot of people, obviously the nerves were there. I learned a lot playing alongside Scottie. He had an amazing run then. He played like a robot, and he continues to do that. So learned to just kind of try to be a robot.'
Koch on Lee's wayward tee shot on 18: 'I'm not sure I've ever seen one quite that far to the right on 18…It is one of the scariest tee shots on the golf course, there's no question, and you do guard against going left, but this is unbelievable.'
Hicks on Lee converting a par on 18: 'There is a tracer you don't want to see anywhere, and that was bizarre... Min Woo Lee with a spectacular four at the last…One of the craziest scores you'll ever see at 18 after what Min Woo Lee did off the tee. Second shot wasn't great, third shot got in position for that (putt). I don't know how this happened.'
Koch: 'I don't know either, because the ball falls in uphill (laughs).'
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