– The first day of THE PLAYERS left us with five leaders at the top of the leaderboard, due mainly to the better playing conditions in the afternoon wave. The sun even came out and the wind was no more than a light breeze by the end of the day, so up to four players joined Maverick McNealy (-5) in the co-lead: Sepp Straka (-5), Sahith Theegala (-5), Lee Hodges (-5) and Austin Smotherman (-5), although in Smotherman’s case there is an important detail: the Californian was one of the few players who could not finish his round due to lack of light, but he marked his ball on the green of the 9th hole, a par 5, where his round ended, four metres from the hole with a birdie putt he will play tomorrow morning and which, if he holed it, would put him alone at the top, once again brushing glory
– Two weeks ago, at the Cognizant Classic, this same player also led after the first round and finished the tournament in second place, the best result of his career on the PGA Tour. He then made the cut without too much trouble at the Arnold Palmer, but withdrew on Saturday with back problems after five holes… A simple lapse, it seems: here once more is the man who, when things work, describes his game as something as boring as it is orderly and who gives lessons, without meaning to, in a ‘contemplative life’ approach to high-level golf. Two weeks ago he said “comparisons steal your joy”, meaning that everyone, in this crazy world of golf, should follow their own path without looking at what others who are doing better are doing and who perhaps, at some point—even in the amateur ranks—were of the same or an inferior profile. Fortunately for him (and for everyone: his excellent attitude deserves it), the back problems from a few days ago have not worsened and here he is again, four metres from the lead, once more almost touching the sky. Smotherman is playing this tournament for the second time and in his first, in 2023, he did not do badly (35th)
– And if Smotherman has been a protagonist recently, we can say the same of Sahith Theegala, who last week put his head above the parapet at Bay Hill and who floats round the course feeling one hundred per cent healthy. Today he even holed it from the fairway on the 12th. Since he withdrew from the PGA Championship last year with severe neck problems he had not felt fully fit until this past pre-season and now seems to have hit a good run and simply appreciates every day the fact of being able to play golf without any pain. Watch out for him. Happy guys are dangerous on a golf course…
– Rory McIlroy (+2) may not yet be at that point of full fitness after withdrawing last week at Bay Hill. He was too erratic today and tomorrow he cannot afford to be careless. At the end of his 74-shot round he said he had not felt any back pain, the reason for his withdrawal a few days ago, but that he had not been able to prepare for this event as he would have liked. He had barely hit thirty balls on Wednesday and had felt strangely rusty, as if he had been out of action for much longer… The good news for the Irishman is that, if he finds his form tomorrow, he still has room to get into the fight to defend his title from last year
