Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.-time US Open champion Lucas Glover finished with a flowering, which made Birdie on each of his last four holes to arrest an early two-shot lead in the opening round for Players Championship on Thursday.
The 45-year-old, who enjoyed a new life since he switched to a long putter in 2023, moved a blow away from the elite field when he sank an 18 feet at the iconic PAR-3 17.
After being favored by a tailor-made when he turned off at PAR-4 18, it struck six o’clock due to the tour winner then a 9-iron to seven meters before losing putt to the card a 6-under-pair 66 at TPC Sawgrass.
“I played nicely,” said Glover when he quit his round shortly after World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, others ranked Rory Mcilroy and the world no 3 Xander Schauffele had started from Par-4 first in a watery super group. “That’s the thing about this place is that there are always some really good points and always some really bad points. The margins are razors here, similar to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You just go off, you can make big numbers in a hurry,” added Glover, whose first round card included nine birds and three bogeys.
“So I happened to have a bunch of good numbers today and a bunch of good gardens and could be aggressive and I sat down well. But when you get to a good start it gives you confidence.”
The next best among the morning wave of starters was Americans Alex Smalley and Bud Cauley, Stephan Jaeger from Germany and English Aaron Rai, who opened by the 68th century.
Joe Highsmith, who won his first PGA Tour title on The Cognizant Classic earlier this month, and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre started with 69S.
Glover, best known for winning 2009 US Open on Bethpage Black, was really the story of the morning when he bounced back from a Birdie-Bgey-Bgey start after starting at PAR-4 10.
After enduring a 10-year title dryer on the PGA tour that started in mid-2011, he revived his career with Victory on 2021 John Deere Classic before winning another two times 2023-at Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship.
On the question of explaining this dramatic turn in Fortune for a forty-something golfer, Glover replied: “Just motivated, dedicated. Type of just doesn’t want to be finished at 45, frankly. In ’21 I said it over and over, I said I could do it, and since 2023 after changing here, I can still. stay and then have ended every time.
Elite Players Championship Field is one of the strongest in the game with the top 10 golfers in the world ranking – and 48 of the 50 best – gathered on TPC Sawgrass for the tournament’s 51st edition.
However, the 33rd ranked Jason Day of Australia withdrew just an hour before he was scheduled to be off on Thursday morning due to an illness.
-Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media
