World No. 1 Jason Day opened first-round play of The Players Championship by tying the course record with a 9-under-63.
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Jonas Blixt, of Sweden, hits from the fourth fairway during the second round of The Players Championship golf tournament Friday, May 13, 2016, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Day, starting on the back nine, began his round with three straight birdies and reached the turn in four under par.
“I can’t really recall the way that I hit the ball as well as I did today, and then also putting as well as I did”.
The 28-year-old missed an opportunity at the layout’s easiest hole, the par-5 16th, where he settled for par but he made up for it in style. “That kind of took my mind off anything else other than just if I’m a little exhausted, I’ve got to focus a little bit harder to try and hit the correct shots out there”.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez was the last to ace the island green par-3 when he did it in 2002.
“I would have loved to shoot 10-under and be the only guy to hold that record, but I’m in pretty good company with the guys that have shot that, especially with Greg Norman”, Day said. “When you see someone up the leaderboard distancing themselves away from the field, you’ve got to do something to catch up to them”, said Day.
World number one Jason Day, who has missed the cut three times in five appearances at Sawgrass, was also seven under with three holes remaining, with Itlay’s Francesco Molinari, four-time major victor Ernie Els and American Hudson Swafford all recording rounds of 66.
Day started on the back nine, birdied his first three holes and never looked back.
Masters champions Danny Willett is seven adrift on two under, while Jordan Spieth is one further back.
A 40-foot birdie effort on the eighth lipped out and then an eagle attempt on the last from a greenside bunker ended up just a foot from the hole for a tap-in birdie. He anxious about his wedge going long, but it settled 15 feet away for a birdie.
“It’s been a long week because it’s been hot and I just felt really exhausted all day for some reason”, added Day, who is in prime position to land a seventh win in 17 starts.
Lee shot six birdies and one bogey in the near blemish free round at TPC Sawgrass.
NICE TOUCH: Branden Grace was facing a tough drive on the par-4 seventh hole when he was distracted by sudden noise from the gallery. Even though I was only level after nine I was playing nicely.
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Defending champion George Coetzee opened with a 71, tied for ninth. Curran and two others will start play on the first hole at 1:31 p.m. (CDT). He made another birdie on the 17th hole during the three-hole playoff.
