Wyndham Clark leads evening push from major big guns

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 14: Wyndham Clark of the United States plays his shot from the 18th tee during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 14, 2024 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Late Thursday evening, a name Rory McIlroy won’t be happy to see pushed his way into a three-way share of the first-round lead – Wyndham Clark.

Clark, who clipped a heartbroken McIlroy by a shot in last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, rode a heater of three late birdies on 15, 16 and 17 to catch morning leaders McIlroy and Xander Schauffele with a 7-under 65 on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Clark led a trio of major winners to put themselves into the thick of the hunt on Thursday afternoon. 2022 U.S. Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick fired a 6-under 66 to join Canadian Nick Taylor in fourth place. Reigning Masters and defending Players champion Scottie Scheffler overcame an opening bogey to shot 5-under 67 to tie sixth with Ludvig Åberg, Jason Day and Tom Hoge.

“For me this golf course has always kind of given me some fits,” said Clark, who hit 16 greens on Thursday. “But I think it's a course that as long as you just learn, I think you get more and more comfortable hitting, let's say, the second shot into 16 or more comfortable hitting the tee shot on 18 or even the shot on 17. So after playing it now I think four or five times, I feel just more comfortable out there, and when I got to those holes that normally gave me a lot of fits, I stepped up and hit good shots.” 

World No. 1 Scheffler, trying to become the first player to successfully defend the Players, bounced right back from an opening bogey with three straight birdies on 2, 3 and 4. He added three morning birdies at 10, 11 and 16 to keep his momentum going coming off an impressive five-shot win last week at Bay Hill.

“Outside of the start I played a lot of really good golf,” said Scheffler. “It's nice to only have one bogey around this place and hopefully continue to do more of that the next few days.” 

Fitzpatrick, who last won at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship a week after the Ryder Cup, also recovered from a slow start with two bogeys in his first three holes. But he rallied with five birdies and a kick-in eagle on 16 over a 10-hole stretch to draw within one of the leaders.

“Drove it like I feel like I can drive it,” Fitzpatrick said. “That obviously puts me in a great position to hit solid golf shots from there, and putted well, as well, which has been something that's been a bit on and off this year, as well. To me it felt a bit more like my old self, drove the ball well, putted well, and that's kind of always been the key to when I've played well really.”

Fitzpatrick admitted his game has been off because of a 4-gram weight that was inadvertently left in the grip of his driver during testing in February of last year. The mistake wasn’t noticed until this February before the WM Phoenix Open.

“I had it in when I won Harbour Town and won the Dunhill,” Fitzpatrick said. “I wouldn't say it was okay. Maybe I'd have won four times if I had it out. Because as soon as I came out and hit the next day (after taking the weight out), it felt night and day. I could hit it as hard as I want and it wouldn't go left. Previously, I felt like I hit it hard and it would just go straight left.” 

The afternoon proved more difficult for Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Séamus Power. Lowry rallied with a pair of late birdies to finish in the red at 1-under 71. Power offset three birdies with three bogeys to shoot even-par 72.

“That’ll make my job a bit easier tomorrow,” Lowry said after holing a 6-footer for birdie on the difficult 18th. “Nice to birdie two of the last three. Pretty poor on the front nine but I played lovely on the back nine and hopefully that brings me in tomorrow.” 

Lowry wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in posting a T4 and solo third in consecutive week leading into the Players. He missed par-saving chances from 8, 8 and 5 feet on the front side and had a look from inside 10 feet for eagle on 16 but settled for a birdie that drew him back to level. He flushed his approach from the fairway on 18 for a satisfying finish.

“The greens were very chewed up this afternoon. Hard to hole putts,” Lowry said. “Felt like I putted pretty well but burnt the edge quite a bit and a lot of putts here you can’t be aggressive with. So yeah, hopefully you have fresh greens in the morning and shoot a score.” 

Power has been fighting to regain his form after taking four months off at the end of 2023 nursing a hip injury. He was No. 50 in the world at last summer’s Open Championship and slipped outside the top 100 with his only missed cut of the year at Torrey Pines in January. In seven starts this season, his best finish is tied 21st last week at Bay Hill.

“Didn’t do much to be honest,” said Power of his 72. “So got a good score, that sums that up. Didn’t do enough good things. A lot of work to do tomorrow.

“My game is coming around, this is my second month back after dealing with injuries,” Power said. “I’m sort of getting back into in now and looking forward to it. I should be good going forward. It was just something that I had to deal with and kind of frustrating timing.” 

Power and Lowry each hope to capitalize on better conditions Friday morning to push their way into the weekend.

“Obviously around this course, you've got loads of chances so you’ve got to take advantage of some of that,” Power said. “But, yeah, there's a lot of good things today. So do the same tomorrow and hopefully get a couple of good breaks.”