The PLAYERS Championship Round 1: DropGate, Wyndham Clark’s Late Charge, Angry Club Toss and More

The first day of the event, dubbed ‘The Fifth Major’, was nothing short of scintillating. Despite play being suspended, THE PLAYERS Championship lacked no fire throughout the Thursday round. Moreover, on a day that saw a lot of reshuffling on the scoreboard, some moments couldn’t help but stand out apart from others.

Meanwhile, being the defending champion of the event, Scottie Scheffler fought tooth and nail to place himself in the sixth position, tied with six others. Regardless of his performance, his amazing display of golf closely missed out on making it to the top moments that caught the attention of the community. What else, then, could have beaten the current No. 1 and topped the day’s headlines as the first round of the $25 million event came to a close?

Top moments of the first round at THE PLAYERS Championship

5. The rise of Wyndham Clark: Although Rory McIlroy managed to cement his spot at the top of the scoreboard, Clark was nowhere near short of giving up. This was evident from the coruscating shot that he made during the first day of play, using his every ounce of strength from the roughs to land the ball next to the hole on the greens. It seems he would really need a good chiropractor after this.

Interestingly, his determination helped him card a total of eight birdies and a bogey, the last of which came on the 4th hole. This helped him place himself in a three-way tie for the lead with the Northern Irishman and Xander Schauffele with a figure of 7-under 65.

4. A Ryan Fox Ace: On the iconic par-3, 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, the New Zealand athlete managed to score a hole-in-one leading him to dish out figures of 3-under 69 over the first day of play. Interestingly, his eagle-cum-ace came just after another eagle at the 16th hole, along with two more birdies on the 11th and 4th holes.

Since the year 1983, there have been a total of 17,405 rounds played at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. Out of the same, the players have managed to card a total of 13 holes-in-one, seven of which came in the last seven editions of the tournaments. It seems Fox has managed to mark his name in the annals of history as the golfer who scored the 14th ace.

3. The Adam Hadwin club toss: Unfortunately for the Canadian golfer, he narrowly missed the water with his drive on No. 18, followed by an ill-fated shot. Sadly enough, he could only card a double bogey at the final hole, leading his score to come up to a 3-over par 75, pushing him down to the 126th position out of 144 players.

That’s not all. The 36-year-old was all set to continue his streak at the 17th hole on TPC Sawgrass. Interestingly, the golfer had never hit a golf ball in the water in the 28 previous rounds he played there. One would guess the 29th would be no different. However, the ball found the water on the 17th, leading him to score a double bogey. No wonder the club flew from his hands in the following hole.

2. The Sam Ryder heartbreak: What could have been the 15th hole-in-one at the iconic No. 17 since 1983 went ahead to become just another ball in the water. The 34-year-old was visibly heartbroken as the ball steadily spun back to the water body. Truly an unfortunate moment for the golfer.

He could only card a double bogey at the 17th, the second in his round of 2-under 70. Meanwhile, his first double bogey came on the par-5 second hole of the day. Regardless, he managed to dish out seven birdies in the remaining holes, along with a single bogey at No. 8, allowing himself to stay in the race at T37.

1. Rory McIlroy’s DropGate controversy: The Northern Irishman topped the headlines once again with his drive on the par4, No.7 when his ball landed on the water after bouncing on the land by the bunker. But that’s where the problem arose. Why? Well, no one saw if it landed below or above the red line. Even so, the 34-year-old was confident that it was the latter all the while, going ahead to take the drop from his knee length.

Then came Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth. The Norwegian said, “I thought it was really close. I can’t say either way,” as he expressed uncertainty about the drop. Chiming in was Spieth as well, who divulged how the media persons behind him had mentioned how the ball took a bounce below the line.

However, in the end, the officials went ahead after the three mutually agreed to move on with McIlroy’s decision owing to a lack of video evidence. Surprisingly, this did lead to many in the community going ahead to bash up the 4-time major champ for his drop. It appears the recent two-shot penalty at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is still fresh in the minds of the fans.

These are but some of the moments that caught the fans’ eyes. And with the second round starting as scheduled at 7:40 a.m. and the remainder of the first round being played simultaneously at 8:50 a.m. (since only a few golfers are left to play a few holes), undoubtedly many more moments at TPC Sawgrass are in the making!

ALSO READ: Rory McIlroy’s First Ever THE PLAYERS Championship Was Notorious and Infamous – ‘Kicked Out of Bars’