The Players Championship saw a blast from the past on Thursday, as Lucas Glover and Camilo Villegas, winners of the 2009 U.S. Open and 2008 Tour Championship respectively, led the field at Sawgrass with a score of -6, tied with J.J. Spaun. Rory McIlroy, along with Min Woo Lee and Billy Horschel, were close behind at -5, followed by a large group of players at -4.
Glover had an impressive round, finishing with four consecutive birdies on the final four holes. He expressed his confidence in his ability to continue competing at a high level at the age of 45. “I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45,” he said. “and I don’t want to stop anytime soon.”
On the flip side, some well-known players struggled on Thursday. Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Thomas ended the day at +6, Max Homa at +7, and Viktor Hovland at a disappointing +8. Most of them chose not to comment on their performance.
Lucas Glover could afford to look cool on Thursday after taking the lead at The Players Championship. (David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“The thing about this place is, there’s always some really good scores and always some really bad scores,” Glover commented. “It’s razor thin. The margins are razor thin here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a little, you can make big numbers in a hurry.”
Many players experienced the challenging nature of Sawgrass on Thursday, with the infamous Island Green causing trouble for some, like Max Greyserman who struggled on the hole.
Justin Thomas had a rollercoaster round, starting strong but dropping down the leaderboard after a tough finish on holes 17 and 18.
On a more positive note, Chandler Philips stood out with three eagles during his round, a rare feat at The Players Championship. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler remained in contention with a solid round, trailing the leaders by three strokes.