PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Regardless of hitting two tee photographs into the water and being on the middle of a controversial drop after the second, four-time main champion Rory McIlroy opened the fiftieth Gamers Championship with a 7-under 65 to seize a share of the first-round lead Thursday.
McIlroy, the 2019 Gamers Championship winner, was tied atop the leaderboard with Xander Schauffele and reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who had way more uneventful opening rounds at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy had simply taken the lead at 8 underneath when he pulled his drive left on the par-4 seventh gap, his sixteenth of the spherical. McIlroy’s ball crossed a hazard, bounced and kicked into the water.
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The problem was whether or not his ball hit above a purple hazard line on the slope of a fairway bunker or beneath it. If the ball hit above the purple line, McIlroy was permitted to take a drop at that spot. If the ball hit beneath the road, nevertheless, he must go a lot farther again to drop and hit his third shot.
From the tee, McIlroy was sure that he noticed his ball hit above the purple line. Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth, who had been taking part in with McIlroy, did not appear so positive.
It made for a relatively uncomfortable second in what was typically a cushty spherical for McIlroy, who tied a Gamers Championship report with 10 birdies in a spherical.
“It might have been good to shoot 62 and never hit two within the water,” McIlroy stated.
A birdie on the final to tie the lead.@McIlroyRory is the fifth participant to make 10 birdies in a spherical @THEPLAYERS. pic.twitter.com/n2nVsFGS1N
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2024
Canada’s Nick Taylor and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick had been 1 stroke behind at 6 underneath, whereas world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler, the defending Gamers Championship winner, was tied for sixth at 5 underneath, together with Jason Day, Ludvig Ã…berg and 4 others.
Play was suspended at 7:32 p.m. ET due to darkness with 9 golfers nonetheless on the course, and the primary spherical will resume at 8:50 a.m. Friday. The second spherical will start as scheduled at 7:40 a.m.
“I knew the scores had been going to be pretty low right this moment,” stated Scheffler, who gained final week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and is attempting to turn out to be the primary back-to-back winner on the Gamers Championship. “The golf course is fairly gentle, and we had unusually low winds, I might say, for TPC Sawgrass, and the scores clearly mirrored that.”
Scheffler opened with a bogey on the par-4 first gap — his solely one of many spherical — after which ran off three straight birdies. He picked up three extra birdies on the again.
“You may’t actually drive it round this place, like I’ve stated a bunch of instances, you actually cannot,” Scheffler stated. “It was good bouncing again after the tough begin and simply taking part in a very good spherical of golf.”
McIlroy’s contentious dialog with Hovland and Spieth on the seventh gap was the story of the day. After the spherical, McIlroy insisted that he noticed his ball hit above the purple hazard line. He ended up making a double bogey. McIlroy had an analogous scenario when he hit his tee shot into the water on No. 18, his ninth gap.
“It was only a matter of whether or not it was above the road or beneath, and I believed I noticed it pitch above the road [on No. 7],” McIlroy stated. “[No.] 18 was a reasonably comparable scenario. Once more, adamant it crossed, it is only a matter of the place it crosses. I believe this golf course greater than some other, it type of produces these conditions a little bit bit.”
Hovland and Spieth declined to remark after their rounds. Hovland made a double bogey on the final gap to card a 1-over 73; Spieth posted a 2-over 74 with 4 birdies and 6 bogeys.
The golfers’ dialog on the seventh fairway lasted about 10 minutes earlier than McIlroy took a drop.
“I believe Jordan was simply attempting to be sure that I used to be doing the suitable factor,” McIlroy stated. “I imply, I used to be fairly positive that my ball had crossed the place I used to be type of dropping it. It is so onerous, proper, as a result of there was no TV proof. I used to be adamant. However I believe, once more, he was simply attempting to be sure that I used to be going to do the suitable factor.”
After searching for his ball within the water and never discovering it, McIlroy and his caddie, Harry Diamond, walked again to the spot the place they believed his ball had landed.
Hovland walked throughout the golf green along with his hand in his pockets and informed McIlroy, “We do not know for positive that it crossed the road.”
“I am fairly snug saying that it did — that it landed above the purple line,” McIlroy stated.
“I believed it was actually shut,” Hovland stated. “I can not say both manner.”
Then Spieth walked throughout the golf green and chimed in. Members of the TV crew had apparently informed him that McIlroy’s ball hit beneath the road.
“Everybody that I am listening to that had eyes on it, which is once more not what issues, is saying they’re 100% sure it landed beneath the road,” Spieth stated. “That is all I am saying.”
By that point, a PGA Tour guidelines official had arrived. McIlroy requested him to examine with the TV broadcast, however he was informed there have been no replays out there. McIlroy took a drop and could not stand up and down, settling for a double-bogey 6. He bounced again with a birdie on the par-5 ninth gap.
“I really feel like I am one of the conscientious golfers out right here, so if I really feel like I’ve finished one thing improper, it will play on my conscience for the remainder of the event,” McIlroy stated. “I am a giant believer in karma, and should you do one thing improper, I really feel like it may come round and chew you in some unspecified time in the future.
“I clearly do not attempt to do something improper on the market, and play by the foundations and do the suitable factor. I really feel like I clearly did that [on] these two drops.”
Schauffele’s bogey-free spherical of 7-under 65 was way more uneventful. He began on the again 9 and made the flip at 3 underneath 33. Then he posted birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and three and one other one on the par-four fifth.
Schauffele bumped into hassle on the seventh gap after blocking his tee shot into the bushes to the suitable. He was 163 yards from the opening and surrounded by limbs. His ball was sitting down and there was one opening-straight up.
After telling his caddie, Austin Kaiser, that he might reside with trying a “hero shot,” Schauffele took a full swing and hit a excessive sweeping shot throughout a bunker and water. His ball landed within the fairway in need of the inexperienced, and he chipped to 4 ½ toes and made par.
“It was over all the pieces, however it was similar to a window that was fairly excessive up,” Schauffele stated. “I’d not need to hit the shot once more.”
The spotlight of the day was Ryan Fox’s ace on the par-3 seventeenth gap, after he had posted an eagle 3 on the par-5 sixteenth. He turned the primary golfer in Gamers Championship historical past to card a 3-1 on Nos. 16 and 17, in keeping with the PGA Tour. It was the 14th ace on the island-green seventeenth gap for the reason that event moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1983.
