The Daily Wrap-up, Rd. 1: THE PLAYERS
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Ben Crane plays his best golf when he keeps it simple.
His day began with a drive down PGA TOUR Boulevard on the back of his caddie's moped because his wife had the car. Once he got on TPC Sawgrass, he kept the ball on land -- not easy to do on a course where 89 balls found the water -- and then got it into the hole so quickly he needed only 22 putts.
He left the thrills, and the spills, to everyone else Thursday at THE PLAYERS Championship.
"A lot of people say 'horses for courses,'" Crane said after a 7-under 65 for a one-shot lead. "But for me, it's just a matter of am I able to keep it simple and just play golf and not worry about too much about other things."
Tiger Woods worried about his putting. He didn't make one longer than 4 feet on his way to a 1-under 71.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia also had a 71, but there is nothing simple about his game right now. Even with a respectable score, he said he was playing so badly it "makes me want to puke."
Phil Mickelson fired off three straight birdies, then hit only four greens in regulation the rest of the way for a 73, the first time he failed to break par in the opening round at TPC Sawgrass in eight years.
"Looked like it was going to be a great round," Mickelson said. "And then it just kind of went away."
Crane couldn't relate.
He dropped only two shots -- from a bunker on No. 8 and the rough-covered mounds right of the 14th fairway -- and made four birdie putts longer than 20 feet.
"It's one of those rounds that you just live for when you're a golfer," he said. "And I had one today at one of my favorite courses and tournaments of all time."
• To read the remainder of this story, click here.
RARE DAY IN THE FAST LANE
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- You wake up at the crack of dawn. Big tournament on the horizon. Tough venue awaits you; it was certainly murder in the final round last year when just two guys broke 70 through inhuman winds.
But then you get on the course Thursday ... and smile. The previous night's rain dampened the greens. The pin flags have no movement. And the humidity helps negate the rising temperatures that might normally dry out those greens. And hey, is that rough slightly lower than last year? Suddenly, three words come to mind:
Ideal. Scoring. Conditions.
It doesn't usually get that way at TPC Sawgrass. But in the first round of this year's PLAYERS Championship, the Stadium Course became vulnerable.
And when that happens, the world's best golfers do what they do best -- attack with the ferociousness normally reserved for hungry sharks, protective grizzly bears and agitated Bernie Madoff clients (as if there's any other kind).
• To read the remainder of this story, click here.
| Top 5 notables at THE PLAYERS Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Thursday's Best |
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The 523-yard par-5 16th hole was easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.594.
The 481-yard par-4 14th hole was toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.378.
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Scott Verplank had two eagles during the first round, including one from the fairway at the par-4 15th hole. He carded a two at the hole and would eventually finish at 5 under for the day. 
Ben Crane's scorecard featured nine birdies -- including four in a row from Nos. 2-5 -- and just two bogeys. He led the field in the key putting stats and needed just 22 putts to complete his round.| QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||||||||||
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TIGER'S GAME STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods won't wear his traditional red shirt until Sunday. Lately, though, he's been showing us he can bleed.
There are 54 holes left in THE PLAYERS Championship, and Woods still has plenty of opportunity to give us one of his typical better-than-most moments or make the kind of charge he so often does, but what we're seeing right now is another reinvention of himself and his game. When it will be complete, no one knows. Not even Woods. And that admission is as surprising as it is human and introspective.
Woods not breaking 70 in the opening round of THE PLAYERS Championship is nothing new, and that trend continued on Thursday with a 1-under 71 that left him six shots off the lead. Not being able to wait to get back home from golf tournaments is. That's something Woods admitted that he could never understand players saying before -- until he became a father, that is.
That's not to say he's somehow distracted by family life, or in some sort of slump, or that his singular focus of winning every golf tournament he enters by as much as possible is any less narrow than whatever fairway he's standing on, or that he somehow can't adjust to a new swing post-knee surgery.
Woods nearly won the Masters with what he called a "Band-Aid" swing, almost won the Quail Hollow Championship in similar form and did win the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard by finally getting all the disjointed parts to click just well enough. In the four tournaments since his first of the season, he's finished in the top 10 every time.
• To read the remainder of this story, click here.
INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Fred Albers offers these observations from Thursday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
Much has been written about Tiger Woods' lack of distance since his knee surgery. He says his game has lost a little "juice". Well, at the par-5, 525-yard 16th hole, Woods hit a driver around the corner of the dogleg and a 7-iron onto the green, then made his eagle putt. Woods struggled to a 1-over 71 in the opening round of THE PLAYERS, but it wasn't from lack of distance.
There might not be a more unlikely leader than Ben Crane. He had missed two straight cuts coming into THE PLAYERS but managed a 7-under 65 in the opening round despite hitting just 12 greens. Crane's secret? His putter. Crane leads the tournament in putting, taking just 22 strokes to cover the 18 greens. His card shows nine birdies, two bogeys and seven pars.
David Toms had the shot of the day and it was a misfire. Playing the 442-yard 7th hole, Toms pushed his drive to the right of the fairway. The ball hit a golf cart and came to rest in the ball washer that is attached to the Club Car model cart. Toms received free relief and made par. It was his only par on his final four holes as he slipped from 8 under to 5 under.
FIRST-ROUND NOTEBOOK: THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
By Chris Reimer, PGA TOUR Staff
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Ben Crane led the field with nine birdies on Thursday. Ben Crane made 14 one putts in his round, tying the most one-putts by any player in the last 25 years at THE PLAYERS Championship.
• The first-round leader or co-leader has gone on to win THE PLAYERS 13 times since the tournament began in 1974 including each of the past two seasons since the tournament moved to a May date. Four of them have been wire-to-wire victories. The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win five of 18 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR in 2009, most recently Phil Mickelson at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
• Rory McIlroy, making his PLAYERS debut this week, posted a 2-over-par 74. He went to No. 17 at 2 under par, but finished triple bogey (No. 17) and bogey (No. 18) for a 74. McIlroy turned 20 on May 4, and would be the youngest player to make the cut in PLAYERS Championship history -- Bobby Clampett made the cut in 1981 at 20 years, 334 days.
• Scott Verplank (tied for fifth at 5 under par) recorded a pair of eagles during Thursday's opening round. The first eagle came at the 449-yard, par-4 15th hole when Verplank holed it from 141 yards. It is the third eagle on the 15th hole since the tournament began at TPC Sawgrass in 1982. The second eagle was at the 532-yard, par-5 second hole after his 40-foot putt found the cup. Verplank had made just two eagles for the season before THE PLAYERS Championship (50th Bob Hope Classic/Round 3, Verizon Heritage/Round 4). Coincidently, both eagles were recorded at hole No. 2 at those events.
• Verplank is making his 17th appearance at THE PLAYERS, his best finish (tie for second) coming in 2005. His 5-under-par 67 is his best first-round score at this event.
• Camilo Villegas' opening 5-under-par 67 is his first sub-par opening round in THE PLAYERS Championship and marks his career-low round at TPC Sawgrass. His three previous opening round scores were 74 (2006), 80 (2007) and 74 (2008). Despite opening with a 2-over-par 74 in 2006, Villegas went on to finish tied for third, his career-best finish in THE PLAYERS, after firing rounds of 70-68-71 over the final 54 holes.
• To read more notes from the first round, click here.
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