2025 Players Championship leaderboard: Rory McIlroy surges with stellar back nine in Round 1 at TPC Sawgrass

McIlroy sits one shot off the tri-leaders through 18 holes at the PGA Tour's flagship tournament

A tale of two waves took place Thursday in the opening round of the 2025 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Pete Dye's devilish design gave early goers everything they could handle before conditions eased in the afternoon and gave way to a trio of surprising first-round leaders in Camilo Villegas, J.J. Spaun and Lucas Glover.

In his 12th appearance at The Players Championship, Villegas is off to the best start of his career posting an opening 6-under 66 as he seeks to make the cut for the first time since 2016. He held the solo lead at points Thursday but ultimately finished even with Spaun (from the afternoon wave) and Glover (from the morning wave) as birdies flew before competition wrapped up.

The morning groups played to an average of 73.31 before the afternoon tee times maneuvered through TPC Sawgrass at an average of nearly 1-under par.

While the trio at the top go to sleep with the lead, it is Rory McIlroy who is front and center in everyone's mind after 18 holes. The 2019 champion navigated the par 72 without his best stuff Thursday but still went 4 under without a bogey on his back nine en route to shoot a 67. He sits just one off the lead at T4 alongside local lad Billy Horschel and Min Woo Lee, who contended in this championship two years ago. 

"I certainly didn't drive it the way I wanted to. Didn't hit it in as many fairways as I would have liked," McIlroy said. "Yeah, I think with the greens being so receptive, you can get away with it a little bit. I'm not going to be able to get away with it for the rest of the week. 

"Sort of rode my luck out there a little bit. But I'm trying to hit this cut shot into play. Missing right off the tee here on any hole is way better than missing left. Just sort of hitting this cut sort of up into the wind, and obviously you don't need to hit it too far here, so yeah, just going to go hit some balls here and figure it out and try to hit a few more fairways [Friday]."

McIlroy will try to ride his luck again in the morning as he experiences a quick turnaround sharing a tee time with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The two-time defending champion could have squeezed more out of his opening round, but Scheffler remains in the conversation after an opening 69 that featured just one birdie across the four par 5s. The three-peat bid remains alive, but a big Friday may need to be in store before weekend weather rolls into town.

Let's take a look at how the leaderboard shaped up on Thursday in the first round of the 2025 Players Championship.

2025 Players Championship leaderboard, Round 1

T1. Camilo Villegas, J.J. Spaun, Lucas Glover (-6): Just as we all predicted. Glover rattled off four straight birdies to end his round to reach 6 under while Villegas limped to the finish line with a late bogey. Meanwhile, it was Spaun who may have impressed the most as he led the field from tee to green and went around TPC Sawgrass without dropping a shot.

"Hitting a lot of fairways, making a lot of putts," Glover said. "No secret, honestly. You probably can say that most places on Tour. But for me, my cut-made-to-top-10 ratio is really high, so I don't know if that's a good thing or not."

T4. Rory McIlroy, Min Woo Lee, Billy Horschel, Akshay Bhatia (-5): McIlroy hit only 4 of 14 fairways, and it didn't seem to matter. The four-time major champion was fighting the right miss all afternoon but was still able to put seven birdies on the scorecard including an incredible one from the pine straw on No. 18. It felt like he was stuck in neutral for most of his front nine but kicked it into overdrive around the turn with four straight birdies on Nos. 9-12. Horschel and Villegas combine to give Florida Gators fans two rooting interests atop the leaderboard.

T8. Rickie Fowler, Denny McCarthy and eight others (-4): Fowler got his round rolling in the right direction thanks to his approach into the par-5 9th with his mini driver. Setting up a tap-in birdie, the 2015 champion was off and running from there. Fowler added three more birdies coming home and slowly but surely climbed up the leaderboard. After finding something with his full swing in his last start at the Cognizant Classic, Fowler is feeling it again.

T18. Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Robert MacIntyre and nine others (-3): It was a pretty standard 69 from Scheffler. He ranked inside the top 10 in strokes gained tee to green and outside the top 80 in strokes gained putting. Scheffler missed four really good chances from inside 10 feet. After not putting great at Bay Hill, he is answering questions about the flat stick once again.

"So, the hole is about this big," Scheffler said with a smile. "Sometimes, when you're putting from 10 feet, it could go in here and then other times it ends up right there. So, you tell me."

T30. Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka, Collin Morikawa and 12 others (-2): Spieth's day featured just about everything -- two eagles, two birdies, two pars, two bogeys and a double bogey -- and that was just his front nine. He only hit five fairways and eight greens in regulation and will need to sure up his ball striking if he is to remain a factor on this leaderboard.

"You like to see that there's firepower," Spieth said. "If I made 16 pars and two birdies, I would be like, 'Oh, what do I need to do to make more birdies?' But if it was from hitting every green to 15 feet and you hit good putts, then you know it's coming. So sometimes it's easier to get rid of bogeys when you know you're going to make enough birdies. But it kind of depends on how it's done. Ideally, I'm hitting more greens in regulation because it is very challenging around the greens here."

Jordan Spieth opens 2025 Players Championship in contention with vintage up-and-down performance in Round 1

Patrick McDonald

T45. Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood and 17 others (-1): Take away two head-scratching mistakes, and Åberg is among the leaders of this tournament. The Swede was brilliant across 16 holes -- playing them in 5 under -- only to nearly give up all his work on the remaining two. Åberg needed four putts on the par-3 13th and chipped his third into the water on the par-4 18th. Both blunders led to double bogey, but he remains well within reach in his second tournament appearance.

T98. Hideki Matsuyama, Nick Taylor and 12 others (+2): Matsuyama got off to a dreadful start hitting two golf balls in the water and playing his first six holes in 5 over. A birdie on his seventh hole, the par-5 16th, seemed to kick him in the right direction as he hung tough without his best stuff and played 3-under golf the rest of the way.

T134. Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and three others (+6): Thomas held a share of the lead roughly two hours into the championship. Getting to 2 under through seven holes, Thomas proceeded to dump shots into the water on Nos. 17-18 and turned in 3 over. He donated a couple more golf balls on his second nine. A couple late birdies allowed Thomas to avoid a score in the 80s.

T139. Max Homa and four others (+7): Despite remaining confident in his swing changes, Homa remains lost. He signed for four scores of six or higher including a pair of double bogeys. Homa played the par 5s 3 over with a birdie.

144. Viktor Hovland (+8): The struggles continue for the former FedEx Cup champion, who carded three double bogeys or worse en route to the only round in the 80s.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 6:16 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Min Woo signs for a 67

That may have been the par of the year from Min Woo Lee on 18. He hits it so far right off the tee, uses the cart path to try to get his ball back in play with his second, pitches his third from the pine straw and then holes a 20 footer to save his par. He's in the mix again at the Players.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 5:35 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Afternoon average

The wind hasn't been doing much this afternoon, and some outlier performances in the morning may have contributed to this, but the afternoon wave is currently playing two — yes, two — full strokes easier than the morning wave. The split is +1.31 in the morning and -0.78 in the afternoon.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 4:56 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Rory running down hill

Despite some pretty scratchy tee shots — all to the right — Rory McIlroy continues to roll in birdies. After taking care of the par-5 11th, McIlroy rolls in a 20-foot birdie on the short par 4 for his fourth straight. He's at 4 under and one ahead of Scottie Scheffler who just made a nice one as well.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 4:21 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Rory rolling along

That is now two straight birdies for Rory McIlroy around the turn. After making birdies on Nos. 1-2, McIlroy dropped a pair across six holes on his front nine. He rolled in a nice birdie from 12 feet on No. 9 and another just a bit closer on No. 10 to return to 2 under and four off the early pace.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 3:49 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Another gets to 5 under

There are some round this afternoon, much to my surprise. Camilo Villegas is the latest to get to 5 under as he makes a birdie-2 on the par-3 17th. It is still early in the afternoon wave — just about halfway through — but the golf course is playing 1.50 strokes easier than the morning.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 3:20 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Min Woo rolling

The chef is officially cooking. Lacing a long iron into the long par-3 8th, Lee rolls in another birdie from inside 10 feet to get to 4 under on the day. He'll have a great chance to add another circle to his scorecard on the par-5 9th before making the turn. Remember, it was Lee who was Scheffler's closest foe back in the 2023 tournament.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 2:55 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Scheffler slides his birdie putt by

It is has been an ideal start for the world No. 1. He starts his first round with two pars and two straight birdies and nearly kicks in another on the par-4 5th to reach 3 under. Instead, he send his birdie on by and will head to the highly talked about sixth tee at 2 under.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 2:27 pm ET · Adam Silverstein]

Jordan Spieth opens in contention with vintage up-and-down effort

There was nothing ho-hum about Jordan Spieth's opening round of 2-under 70 at the 2025 Players Championship. Well, except if you put it into the context of Spieth's entire career. The three-time major champion hit for the cycle Thursday at TPC Sawgrass, and in the process, shot his way into contention in the PGA Tour's flagship event.

Jordan Spieth opens 2025 Players Championship in contention with vintage up-and-down performance in Round 1

Patrick McDonald

[Mar 13, 2025 at 2:01 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Going to be tough to catch Glover

Lucas Glover makes birdie on his final four holes and cards an opening 6-under 66 to likely take the first-round lead. The afternoon wave is slowly trickling onto the golf course, TPC Sawgrass is only getting more difficult as the course firms up and wind picks up ever so slightly.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 1:30 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Top three players get going

World Nos. 1-3 begin their first rounds headlined by the two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler's tee to green game has not been where it has been the last two years entering this tournament. He entered the week No. 2 on the season behind Collin Morikawa. Meanwhile, McIlroy looks to get his woods in order and Schauffele eases back into competition.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 12:47 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Lead pushed out to 4 under

Both Alex Smalley and Aaron Rai have gotten to 4 under with recent birdies. Smalley has one chance to grab another on the par-5 9th while Rai still has most of his back nine to play at TPC Sawgrass. They are more than 10 strokes clear of names like Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Viktor Hovland — it's been ugly from those three boys.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 12:18 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

JT 8 over in last seven holes

Justin Thomas was leading this golf tournament, oh I don't know, two hours ago at 2 under. He is now 6 over. Thomas is making it a mission to find every body of water at TPC Sawgrass today as he has hit four balls into the water including two in his last two holes, the latte resulting in his third double bogey or worse of his round.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 11:52 am ET · Patrick McDonald]

Max Homa's troubles continue

Despite sounding confident in the way his game was trending, Max Homa got punched in the face in his opening nine. The six-time PGA Tour winner turns in 6-over 42 with two 6s and a 7 on his scorecard. What a fall this has been since finishing third at last year's Masters.

[Mar 13, 2025 at 11:19 am ET · Patrick McDonald]

Spieth turns in 2 under

Here's how Spieth's front nine looked (the back nine at TPC Sawgrass)

• 2 eagles
• 2 birdies
• 2 pars
• 2 bogeys
• 1 double bogey

[Mar 13, 2025 at 10:58 am ET · Patrick McDonald]

What a whirlwind nine from a featured group

Ludvig Aberg, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama combined to make five double bogeys or worse on their first nine holes together. Thomas follows up a double on No. 17 with a triple on No. 18. Meanwhile Ludvig makes a mess around the greens, chips his third into the water and walks away with his second double.