Tony Finau hits out of the sand on the 11th hole during the first round of The Players Championship golf tournament Thursday in Ponte Bedra Beach, Fla.Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press
Max Homa could not have asked for a better start Thursday in The Players Championship. His gap wedge from 137 yards spun into the hole for eagle, and he followed that with a birdie.
Four holes later, he was two-over par in a wild round that symbolizes how the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass can take just as quickly as it gives.
Homa had one par in his opening six holes. He had only two pars on the front nine. He ran off four straight birdies late. He finished with a bogey. It added to a 71 that was far from routine.
“One of the weirder days I’ve ever had,” Homa said.
Strong wind with gusts approaching 30 kilometres per hour in the morning didn’t help. A brief delay from a downpour led to more adjustments. And the Pete Dye design on a normal day is no picnic because of all the water and so many intimidating shots.
Homa wasn’t alone.
“Overall, it was a roller coaster type of day,” said Tony Finau, who had four straight birdies followed by four straight bogeys and finally settled down for a 69.
“I was cruising early, and then just got punched in the mouth in the middle of the round with a bunch of bogeys, kind of jumped on the bogey train,” Finau said. “Really happy with the poise I had to just finish off where I started.”
Max Greyserman also got in on the act. He was tied for the lead at one point by opening with five birdies in seven holes and making the turn in 31.
Max Greyserman watches his shot on the ninth hole during the first round of The Players Championship golf tournament Thursday in Ponte Bedra Beach, Fla.Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press
Then he missed the fairway and made bogey on No. 10. He hit a tree on the par-five 11th and made bogey. He went from the bunker to the water on No. 12 and made bogey. And then he found the water on the par-three 13th and made double bogey. Back to even par, just like that.
Greyserman wound up with a 73, not awful on a day when five players from the morning wave failed to break 80. It just felt awful after starting with five birdies.
Homa’s undoing was a double bogey on the 12th from the right trees, which he barely got back out to the fairway, and missing a three-foot putt to make double bogey on No. 15. Coming after that sensational start, it was tough to take between the ears.
“You really have to have conversations with yourself that you’ve got to start over,” Homa said. “Pretty upset, and you’ve just got to remind yourself that it wasn’t that far off. This is a very hard golf course, so it’s nice to make some good swings and make some good putts to get going in the other direction, but that morning was very tricky.”
Tommy Fleetwood also finished with a 69 that left him wondering how good or how bad it could have been.
He blistered a 9-wood from an upslope to 30 feet for eagle on the par-five 16th, holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the island-green 17th and hit his approach from 187 yards to 10 feet for birdie on the 18th. He also briefly was tied for the lead with another birdie on the par-five second.
“A complete bonus of a stretch, but it was really good golf through that point,” he said.
And then?
“A bit rubbish,” he said of three bogeys in a four-hole stretch toward the end.
Such is Sawgrass.