PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Johnny Miller said the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass favors no one.
Roberto Castro might beg to differ.
Castro, 27, opened with a 9-under 63 on Thursday to take the lead in The Players Championship, the showcase event on the PGA Tour. Castro tied the course record held by Fred Couples (1992) and Greg Norman (1994). Along with joining them in the record book, Castro matched the record set by Billy Ray Brown in 1992 with his three-shot lead after one round.
Rory McIlroy delivered his first under-par round at Sawgrass with a 6-under 66 to take a share of second place with Zach Johnson among early starts.
“I feel a lot more relaxed here,” McIlroy said. “Part of that is I know whatever I do this week, it will be the best thing I’ve ever done here.”
Adam Scott, in his first event since winning the Masters, opened with a 3-under 69.
Castro went birdie-birdie-birdie at holes 16, 17 and 18 to close out his opening nine, then kept up the strong play on his second nine.
“Birdie on 17 and 18 got things going,” Castro said. “I hit a 4-iron close on 18 to kick in almost. So from there, it was kind of off to the races.”
Castro is winless on the Tour this year – and in his career – and his best finish of the season is a tie for 16th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Castro opened with a 63 in the Humana Challenge and tied for 37th.
Castro wasn’t surprised nor did he seem offended in a news conference after his round when asked whether people were Googling him when they saw his name at the top of the leaderboard.
“Oh, sure,” he said.
“Derek Ernst won last week in his eighth event, and no one ever heard of him. There are a lot of good players out here.”
Casey Wittenberg, the leading money winner and the player of the year on the Web.com Tour last year, made bogey on his last hole but shot 67.
“I’ve played down here when it’s been brutal, so it’s very scorable out there (Thursday),” he said. “The greens are fairly receptive. They’re not soft, but they’re not brick hard. If you hit quality iron shots (Thursday), you should be able to score.”
H H H
Tiger Woods and McIlroy had their best start ever at The Players Championship.
It still wasn’t enough to catch the guy who never had played the TPC Sawgrass.
Castro holds a three-shot lead over McIlroy.
Woods shot a 67, the first time he has broken 70 in this event, while McIlroy broke par for the first time ever at Sawgrass.
Vijay Singh, playing one day after he sued the PGA Tour for its handling of his doping case, largely was ignored playing in the group behind Woods.
There were 17 balls in the water around the island-green 17th and 33 rounds in the 60s Thursday.
Padraig Harrington had an eagle and a double bogey Day 1, and Michael Thompson made a hole-in-one.
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