PLAYERS Championship: Inside the first round

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Can you figure out which TOUR player is hitting his shot in Thursday's first round? The answer is ... Dustin Johnson.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Analysis, notes and numbers from Thursday's first round of THE PLAYERS Championship:

FIVE OBSERVATIONS

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Thursday's Round 1 Wrap-up
News, notes from Round 1

1. Byrd sighting: I'm not at all surprised to see Jonathan Byrd among the leaders after the first round -- not after his performance in Charlotte last week. He birdied the last two holes to make the cut on the number, then hung tough and threw out a 66 on Sunday on a major-league layout to tie for fifth. It was a big confidence builder for Byrd, who made some swing changes during the offseason and has begun to reap the rewards the last two months. His instructor Mike Bender and his mental coach Morris Pickens have been telling Byrd to build on success -- and that's exactly what he did on Thursday. -- Helen Ross

2. One funny Swede: A lot of fans might not know it, but Richard S. Johnson is probably as funny and entertaining a guy as you'll find on the PGA TOUR. When someone asked where he was in the interview room, the 5-foot-7 Johnson, bending down to tie his shoe, joked about being short, saying he was "standing up" under the desk. Then when the topic of handball came up and someone asked, "There's jumping in that sport?" Johnson quipped "You obviously haven't seen it. That's why I quit, because I had a little height disadvantage." After shooting a 6-under 66 to sit one off the lead on a course that rewards the kind of ball-striking he displayed in the first round, Johnson might be the one laughing come Sunday. -- Brian Wacker

3. SBS Championship: It was a good day for the PGA TOUR on Thursday ... and not just because its signature event cranked up. The announcement that Korea's SBS International, a division of Seoul Broadcasting System, had signed a 10-year deal to become the new title sponsor for the season-opening event in Kapalua is a nice show of strength in this weak economy. It also shows that the TOUR's focus on spreading sponsorships beyond the auto and financial sectors is working. "I don't know how many steps there will be in that direction," said TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, "but this is one." -- Mike McAllister

4. Big names struggle: Perhaps you expected to see Tiger or Phil somewhere near the lead. Or maybe Sergio. Perhaps you expected too much. Tiger hit the ball well, but didn't make the putts. Shot 71. Sergio struggled off the tee. Shot 71. And Phil? He dumped it in the water at 16 -- not 17 -- for his fifth bogey of the day. Shot 73. The good news for the field's superstars? Most of the time, the first-round leader here doesn't go on to win. Then again, both Sergio and Phil led after the first round when they won -- Phil in 2007, Sergio last year. -- Melanie Hauser

2. Germany's finest: Germany's Bernhard Langer is missing at TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 1997, but fellow countryman Alex Cejka is waving the black, red and gold flag in his place. Cejka fired a 6-under 66 and is tied for second, which is coincidentally where Langer stood following the second round here last year. In 23 starts at THE PLAYERS, Langer was runner-up twice, so Cejka must win to become the low German at this event. Is fate on Cejka's side? When Langer shot 65 in the opening round in '93, he eventually wound up in second. -- Lauren Deason

Bomber Report

Longest drives Longest putts Player Hole Length Player Hole Length Kevin Sutherland 18 342 yards Bubba Watson 13 53 feet, 3 inches Anthony Kim 9 338 yards Bob Estes 16 50 feet, 8 inches Ben Curtis 4 335 yards Billy Mayfair 4 50 feet, 2 inches Ross Fisher 18 335 yards Brad Adamonis 5 42 feet, 9 inches Lucas Glover 9 335 yards Lucas Glover 6 42 feet, 1 inch

Revealing comments

Sergio Garcia 1-under 71 "I think it's been a while since I hit the ball that badly." Richard S. Johnson 6-under 66 "If you come out today and shoot even par, you wouldn't be that happy." Tiger Woods 1-under 71 "This is probably the highest score I could have shot today and I didn't get a whole lot out of my round." David Toms 5-under 67 "I wouldn't say that I'm back to the level of play that I was early 2000 ... but I'm getting closer, for sure." Ben Crane 7-under 65 "It was one of those rounds that you just live for when you're a golfer."

THIS AND THAT

• AM vs. PM: Did the morning wave get the advantage on Thursday? Yes. The morning group's stroke average was 71.69; the afternoon group's stroke average was 72.47.

• Tiger's putting: Bizarre day for Tiger Woods on the greens. He failed to make a putt longer than four feet Thursday. His total distance of putts was 35 feet, 8 inches ranked him dead-last (141st) in the field. The last time Tiger made a putt from beyond 10 feet on TOUR was in the third round on the first hole of the Quail Hollow Championship when he made a putt of 18 feet, 2 inches for birdie. He has now played 53 consecutive holes without converting a putt from beyond 10 feet.

• Crane's accuracy: By hitting every fairway on Thursday, Ben Crane recorded the 54th time since 1992 that a player has hit every fairway in a round at THE PLAYERS. However, this is only the second time where a player has hit 17 greens (which Crane did) while hitting every fairway.

• The real water hole?: There were 14 balls hit in the water on the famed island hole at the 17th. That's not weird, of course. What is weird is that there were more balls hit in the water (18 to be exact) on the par-3 13th.

• Hole-outs: These players managed birdie or better from off the green -- Richard S. Johnson (14 yards from green-side bunker at No. 18 for birdie); Robert Allenby (26 yards from rough on No. 11 for eagle); Brad Adamonis (13 yards from rough on No. 15 for birdie)