Lucas Glover sets early pace with opening 66 at The Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover finished with a flourish, making birdie on each of his last four holes to seize an early two-shot lead in the opening round of The Players Championship on Thursday.

Enjoying a new lease of life since he switched to a long putter in 2023, the 45-year-old moved one stroke clear of the elite field when he sank an 18-footer at the iconic par-3 17th.

After benefiting from a tailwind as he teed off at the par-4 18th, the six-time PGA Tour winner then struck a 9-iron to seven feet before draining the putt to card a 6-under-par 66 at the TPC Sawgrass.

"I played nice," Glover said upon ending his round shortly after World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, second-ranked Rory McIlroy and World No. 3 Xander Schauffele had started out from the par-4 first in a mouth-watering supergroup. "That's the thing about this place is there's always some really good scores and always some really bad scores. The margins are razor thin here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a little, you can make big numbers in a hurry," added Glover, whose first-round scorecard included nine birdies and three bogeys.

"So I happened to have a bunch of good numbers today and a bunch of good yardages and was able to be aggressive and I putted great. But any time you get off to a good start, it gives you confidence."

Next best among the morning wave of starters were Americans Alex Smalley and Bud Cauley, Stephan Jaeger of Germany and Englishman Aaron Rai, who opened with 68s.

Joe Highsmith, who won his first PGA Tour title at the Cognizant Classic earlier this month, and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre started out with 69s.

Glover, best known for winning the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, was certainly the story of the morning as he bounced back from a birdie-bogey-bogey start after teeing off at the par-4 10th.

After enduring a 10-year title drought on the PGA Tour beginning in mid-2011, he resurrected his career with victory at the 2021 John Deere Classic before winning twice more in 2023 -- at the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Asked to explain this dramatic turnaround in fortune for a forty-something golfer, Glover replied: "Just motivated, dedicated. Kind of just don't want to be done at 45, honestly. In '21, I said it over and over, told me I could do it, and then 2023 after changing to the long putter and proving myself there ... I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45 and I don't want to stop anytime soon."

The elite Players Championship field is one of the strongest in the game with the top 10 golfers in the world rankings - and 48 of the top 50 - assembled at the TPC Sawgrass for the tournament's 51st edition.

However, 33rd-ranked Jason Day of Australia withdrew just one hour before he was scheduled to tee off on Thursday morning due to an illness.

--Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media