Patient Clarke finishes on 71

DARREN CLARKE thought there must be some mistake yesterday as he began the Players Championship in Florida with a one-under 71. The name of Tiger Woods was not on the leaderboard.

"I thought somebody was having some fun," said the Ulsterman. But they were not for much of the day the world number one, winner of three of his four tournaments so far this year, was way down the field.

However, birdies at the 16th and 17th rescued a level par 72 for Woods and with none of the early starters managing better than the 68s of American quartet Skip Kendall, Jay Haas, Bob Tway and Rocco Mediate, the damage was not severe.

"I kept myself in the ball game," said Woods. "I could easily have shot 77 to 79 the way I hit the ball and even par was a heck of an accomplishment.

"I didn't get off to the greatest of starts, that's for sure. I hit a couple of blocks, a couple of pulls and had some funny bounces too, but that's the way golf is everybody knows it's very fickle."

Clarke kept himself ahead of the red-hot favourite for the massive £780,000 first prize by finishing with a 15-foot par putt at the long ninth.

"It was the longest putt I made all day," he said. "I had so many makeable putts for birdie and didn't make any of them. I would have been very disappointed with level par, so it was important to close like that. This is one of the most mentally challenging courses we play, one poor shot and you are staring at a double bogey straightaway.

"My patience was very good. I waited for things to happen, which I've not always been very good at."

His 71 was matched by Scot Paul Lawrie and Spaniard Sergio Garcia, while of the late starters Colin Montgomerie was also one under.

Clarke was up at 5am watching a spectacular thunder and lightning storm which dumped an estimated three inches of rain on parts of the Jacksonville area in just one hour. The Tournament Players Course escaped the worst of it, though, and the start was delayed for a mere 30 minutes.

Clarke parred his first six holes, then birdied the 507-yard 16th and 532-yard second.

A three-putt bogey immediately followed, but he hit a 107-yard pitch to two feet for another birdie at the sixth and thought he had made another on the difficult short eighth, only to see the ball horseshoe out.

Lawrie had only 24 putts in his 71, chipping in for a par at the second after being forced to take a penalty drop off his wayward drive. Equally adventurous was the island green 17th, where he flew the green and went into the water and had to hole from 20 feet for a bogey four.

Garcia has been having a torrid time this season, with a best finish of 25th for his 112th position on the US money list.

He admitted he did not expect to be a contender at the beginning of the week, but after a horrid opening hook and bogey five he came back to eagle the long 16th from 25 feet.

"Hopefully I can keep it going and get some confidence," he said. "I'm making some changes and I've got to be patient.

"More than anything it's consistency. When I play well I hit the ball really, really well, but I depend so much on rhythm and I'm just trying to get to a point where I can get round when I'm not playing well without shooting a high number."

Woods was two over at the turn and in danger of going three over on the 424-yard 10th, but made an eight-footer for par before converting his 10-foot birdie chance on the 16th and stuck it to four feet at the 17th.

Jose Maria Olazabal, another to struggle badly this season, eagled the second and was on two under.

Former winner Fred Couples birdied his first three holes and then picked up another shot at the 16th and went into the lead on his own with a seven-foot putt at the first, only to putt off the green at the second and take a bogey six. There was now a six-way tie of him, Haas, Kendall, Mediate, Tway and Kevin Sutherland, who had five to play and at five under they were an amazing 22 shots ahead of last man Michael Campbell.

The Kiwi, who missed the Bay Hill Invitational last week after hurting a shoulder moving luggage, slumped to a miserable 46 on the front nine, double-bogeyed the 10th and then bogeyed the next five to stand 17 over. Nobody else was worse than seven over.

Justin Rose and Luke Donald were on one over, while Padraig Harrington was level par and Nick Faldo one under after seven. Faldo got to two under, but then bogeyed the 18th, while Montgomerie birdied the fourth to return to level par.