The opening round of the 2025 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass delivered the kind of drama and unpredictability that has come to define the PGA Tour’s flagship event, and Rory McIlroy finds himself very much in the hunt after an opening, five-under-par 67.
The 2019 champion’s day was a study in contrasts, hitting just four of 14 fairways, a statistic that would typically spell disaster at a venue as penal as TPC Sawgrass, but despite uncharacteristic waywardness off the tee – only Nick Dunlap, who sits bottom of the leaderboard on +8 found the shortgrass with less frequency – the world number two was on point with his approach play and putting, leaving him behind only Lucas Glover, J.J. Spaun, and Camilo Villegas who sit atop the leaderboard at -6.
“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 admitted post-round. “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.”
A birdie-birdie start was ideal, but he found himself back at level-par through seven after an overly aggressive tee shot on the par-3 third and a wide-right with driver on the seventh. A 15-footer on the par-5 ninth helped get him back in the groove and he reeled off four birdies in a row, missing the fairway on each of the par-4 10th and 12th and par-5 11th holes, but with excellent approach shots and dead-eye putting come to the rescue.
Five pars followed – including one at the iconic par-3 17th where he’d given himself a 10-footer for birdie – but the highlight of the day came on 18 where yet another errant tee shot left him buried in pine straw, facing a small gap in the trees and with water waiting to punish anything pulled to the left. Undeterred, he executed a remarkable punch-out to within 8 feet, draining the birdie putt to cap a back-nine surge and move to within one of the lead.
Can’t hit a fairway all day? Don’t matter. 67 at the Players. Rory McIlroy. pic.twitter.com/vP13FEtOp1
— Rory McIlroy Tracker (@RMTracker) March 13, 2025
“Sort of rode my luck out there a little bit,” he said, acknowledging the fine margins. “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.”
Despite ending the day in minus figures for Strokes-Gained-Off-The-Tee, he’s confident that he can turn that factor around and is hoping to see the golf course firm up over the remaining three rounds.
“I would have expected the greens to be a little firmer today than what they were. Every other — like fairways and run-offs and the surrounds of the greens are getting a little bit firmer, but the greens still feel a little bit mushy. Hopefully it firms up. I’d really like it to. Obviously it puts a premium on getting the ball in play, something that I didn’t do as well today,” he said.
“But I would like the conditions to get a little firmer as the week goes on. Maybe a little bit of wind and more dry conditions, it’ll get there by the weekend.”
While McIlroy’s performance grabbed headlines, the leaderboard is heavily packed. Lucas Glover, a former U.S. Open champion, birdied his final four holes to seize a share of the lead with a bogey-free 66. J.J. Spaun matched that score and Colombian Camilo Villegas briefly got to -7 before dropping back into a three-way tie.
Just behind, alongside McIlroy at -5, are Min Woo Lee, Billy Horschel, and Akshay Bhatia.
The marquee grouping of the top three in the world rankings in McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele dominated much of the narrative in the afternoon. Scheffler, the two-time defending champion aiming for an unprecedented three-peat, posted a solid three-under despite a quieter day on the greens. Schauffele, however, faltered late, carding a double-bogey on the 18th at finish at level-par.
In other Irish interest, Shane Lowry’s day was markedly different to close friend McIlroy’s, as Lowry ranked first in Strokes-Gained-Off-The-Tee and close to last in Strokes-Gained-Putting, all of which combined for a level-par round of 72 and a T62 placing.
Seamus Power will need to go low in round two if he’s to make the cut after making two double bogeys en route to a four-over 76 that leaves him tied for 116th.
Elsewhere, Jordan Spieth turned heads with a vintage rollercoaster round, holing out for eagle twice—on the second and 16th—to sit at four-under, just two off the lead. His flair for the dramatic, paired with a double-bogey and a bogey, epitomized the chaos that both Spieth and TPC Sawgrass can unleash.
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