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The opening day of the Players Championship 2024 finished with Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, and Wyndham Clark shooting 7-under 65 to take the joint single-stroke lead over the field after the first day's play.
From McIlroy's couple of shots into the water to Ryan Fox's back-to-back eagles, the first round of the Players Championship had a lot of talking points. Here in this article, we will delve into five highlights from the first day at the TPC Sawgrass.
Top 5 highlights from the opening day of The Players Championship 2024
1) Rory McIlroy's controversial drop
Although Rory McIlroy had a great first round of the Players Championship, he drove the ball into the water a couple of times. The first one happened on par 4, hole 18, where he ended up with a bogey.
However, the controversy happened on par 4, hole 7, the 16th hole of McIlroy's round, when his tee shot found the water yet again. As he opted to take a drop from the point near the water hazard, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland had a lengthy discussion with him.
The reason was that there was no video evidence to cross-check whether the ball had bounced behind the line, as a slope near the lake prevented the camera from covering that area. If the ball had bounced on the other side, he would have had to take the penalty shot from the tee box.
Eventually, the officials gave the judgment in the Northern Irishman's favor, and he went on to make a double bogey before finishing the round at 7-under.
2) Three players take the lead after the first day
Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, and Wyndham Clark were brilliant on the first day and recovered a single-stroke lead over Nick Taylor and Matt Fitzpatrick after the first day of the Players Championship 2024.
Ever-consistent Schauffle made a bogey-free start on Thursday, while Clark made eight birdies and a bogey. McIlroy started with six birdies on the first eight holes before bogeying the ninth. He picked up four more in the second half to tie the record for most birdies in a single round at the TPC Sawgrass.
3) Ryan Fox makes back-to-back Eagles
On Thursday, March 14, Ryan Fox became the first player in history to record two consecutive birdies at the Players Championship since the TPC Sawgrass hosted the event in 1982.
The New Zealander's first eagle came on par 5, 16th, where the 329-yard tee shot helped him reach the pin in just two more strokes. On the following hole, the ball landed just a foot away from the hole on the slope before going inside the cup.
4) Scottie Scheffler makes a solid start
Scottie Scheffler didn't have a great day as per his standards, yet he was able to shoot 5-under-67 on Thursday. The defending Players Championship winner began the day with a bogey but made sure it was the only one for the day as he birdied six holes.
This is the 108th time in the past three seasons on the PGA Tour that Scheffler will finish inside the top ten after 18 holes. Scheffler's consistency is currently head and shoulders ahead of his competitors. Nobody has done it even 80 times in this span. It will hardly be a surprise if he can defend his title this week.
5) Tom Kim withdraws due to illness
Tom Kim, who was expected to do well at the Players Championship, had to pull out due to illness. He played just eight holes before he decided his body couldn't take it anymore. In the official statement, PGA Tour Communications didn't specify what type of illness he was suffering from.
Ahead of this week, Kim had made six cuts out of seven starts and was yet to make a top-ten finish.
