The first round of the 2024 Players Championship is almost in the books, and even though there was not as much hoopla surrounding the 50th edition of this tournament compared to Players events of the last few years, it still rocked once the action got going. The excitement started early as Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele both shot 65 in the morning wave, scores that stood up through the end of the day when Wyndham Clark tied them up with a 65 of his own in the afternoon.
The rest of the leaderboard is stacked, too, with major winners galore highlighting a desirable list of contenders. All of it sets up what should be a fantastic next few days at TPC Sawgrass.
Let's take a closer look at the leaders, what happened in Round 1 -- pushed into Friday after being suspended due to darkness -- and a few thoughts on a great day of golf.
2024 Players Championship leaderboard
T1. Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark (-7): McIlroy and Schauffele teed off early and had bumpy rides coming home. McIlroy had two drops that were questioned by his playing partners, while Schauffele saw every pine needle on the front side of the golf course after starting on the 10th hole. Somehow, they ended up tied after 18. While McIlroy's early heater is a bit unexpected after a run of mediocre play (for him) over the last month or so, Schauffele's is not. He's finished in the top 10 in four of his last six PGA Tour events and has a claim to being among the two or three best players in the world so far in 2024.
Toss Clark's late charge -- he birdied three of his last four holes -- in the Schauffele file. Clark has been playing tremendous golf of late, shooting 60 at Pebble Beach (and winning) before nearly winning last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (until Scottie Scheffler ran away late). With McIlroy and Clark both near the top, this feels a little like a U.S. Open redux. All three have tremendous staying power at the top.
T4. Matt Fitzpatrick, Nick Taylor (-6): Fitzpatrick was 1 over through six holes before thundering home with seven 3s in his last 12. He's been terrible so far this year (no top-10 finishes), so this was a bit of a shocker. Still, like most of the guys atop this board, he has a ton of staying power, and Fitz saw much of his success from tee to green. He's the one big name up here that I have the least confidence in given how he's been playing, but he's still a threat to win this golf tournament.
T6. Scottie Scheffler, Jason Day, Ludvig Aberg, Tom Hoge (-5): I realized at some point during his round that Scheffler is the anti-Jordan Spieth. He rarely speaks, always finds the center of the club face, makes par after par after par after par (11 on Thursday), rarely hoops anything crazy, remains flawless when it comes to decision making, stays away from trouble and shoots 67s you barely notice. Turn all of those around the other way, and you get Spieth. Scheffler again shot 67, which was his 24th (!) consecutive round under par. His success with the putter, which led to his win last week, continued. That is going to be so problematic for the rest of the field come the weekend.
You know what I need and the PGA Tour could use? A McIlroy-Scheffler shootout where they're about four clear of the rest of the field for the final two days.
The Players again delivers early
The first two days of The Players are usually excellent. I thought they were going to fall flat this year amid the absence of Jon Rahm and the rest of the LIV Golf crew, but they did not. This is for sure overstating it, but The Players already feels like the best tournament of 2024, and it's only been one round! Part of that is because TPC Sawgrass is a great tournament course. Part of it is because of a loaded leaderboard. Some of it is because the weather was perfect.
Honestly? At least part of it is because there's a proper field and a real cut line, all of which does not simply just feel like a sweepstakes for $20 million. That's a bigger discussion for another day, but I was happy to see The Players bring the excitement on Thursday.
Fast and firm and ... bumpers?
What I did not love is how many balls were held up by the rough surrounding these greens at TPC Sawgrass. It was pointed out often throughout the day, but let's just allow the best players to be the best players!
Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap the opening round of The Players Championship. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.