Maverick McNealy, Sepp Straka among 5 tied for The Players lead

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges, Sahith Theegala and Sepp Straka formed a tie for the lead in Thursday’s weather-hit opening round of The Players Championship when play was suspended in fading light.

Surprise package Austin Smotherman, one of four players yet to complete the opening round, has a chance to seize the outright lead when play resumes on Friday as he faces a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole — the par-5 ninth.

Smotherman was at 5 under after mixing four birdies with a lone bogey on his back nine, but he regretted playing a chip shot from 40 yards out before deciding to mark his ball on the green and return the following morning to complete his round.

“It was just getting so dark,” said Smotherman, a three-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour who was a runner-up at last month’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. “Greens are getting — I mean, the rain softened them enough to where spike marks, footprints, all that stuff’s kind of adding up.

“So a 15-, 16-footer, whatever I have. I mean, it’s not worth it right now (and he will) get fresh greens in the morning, which is the benefit of that. Do I wish I hit the chip in the morning as well? Went back and forth. The fact I was even questioning it, I probably should have maybe backed off.”

McNealy, Hodges, Theegala and Straka fired matching 5-under-par 67s on a day of mixed weather conditions at TPC Sawgrass, where the course was relatively firm in the morning before being softened by early afternoon thunderstorms.

Former world No. 1 amateur McNealy, who teed off in the morning wave, reeled off five birdies in his first 12 holes on his way to an early one-shot lead. He was then caught late in the day by fellow American Hodges, who birdied two of his last three holes, and Austrian Straka, who eagled the par-5 16th with a chip-in from 50 feet.

“It was a very straightforward chip,” said Straka, who has won four times on the PGA Tour with his most recent victory coming at last year’s Truist Championship. “It was just off the green, upslope in the first cut. It was about as easy as they come, and I was able to take advantage of it.”

American Theegala made it a four-way tie at the top after covering his back nine in 3 under, highlighted by a hole-out eagle at the par-4 12th where he hit a stunning 99-yard approach from the right fairway, his ball bouncing sharply to the left off the fringe before disappearing into the cup.

“I hit it a little skinny and just came out a little right,” said Theegala, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 2023 Fortinet Championship. “Got a nice bounce … it was probably going to spin left off that slope, was probably going to go like 20, 25 feet down that slope, just straight left of the hole. So for it to crash into the pin and go in is pretty cool. It’s a nice bonus.”

World No. 6 Russell Henley and fellow American Justin Thomas, who won this event in 2021 and is making his second PGA Tour start of the year after undergoing back surgery in November, were among a group of four players who opened with 68s on a tightly bunched leaderboard.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, bidding for a rare third victory at The Players Championship, produced a mixed bag as he opened with an even-par 72. He birdied his final hole, the par-5 ninth, following consecutive bogeys.

“I did some good things, changing weather out there, but overall I felt like I gave away some shots,” said Scheffler, who clinched his 20th career victory on the PGA Tour at The American Express in January. “Hoping to clean it up a little bit the next few days.

“It can get very challenging when you get some high winds like we had this morning. It can get even more challenging when you’re playing from the rough, which I felt like I was doing a bit too much of today … I struck it better on the back nine. Just made a few mental errors and just need to be a little bit sharper the next few days.”

World No. 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, looking to shrug off a back injury that led to his withdrawal from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, experienced a frustrating day as he battled to a 74. Often wayward off the tee, he mixed three bogeys with a lone birdie to finish seven strokes off the pace.

“I would say the most discomfort was like when the ball was below my feet or with chipping,” McIlroy replied when asked if his back had posed any problems. “Just like getting down a little bit to it. Honestly, overall it was fine. Got a little bit tired at the end of the day, but yeah, it was actually all pretty good.”

The elite Players Championship field is one of the strongest in the game with the top 10 golfers in the world rankings — and 47 of the top 50 — assembled at TPC Sawgrass for the tournament’s 52nd edition.

However, World No. 4 Collin Morikawa withdrew from the tournament due to a back injury after playing just one hole on Thursday. After teeing off on the 10th hole and making a par, he experienced some discomfort while taking a practice swing on the 11th tee box.

–Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media