Sergio Garcia got the PLAYERS Championship off to an excellent start with an opening-round 65 that saw him take a two-shot lead by the end of play.
The Spaniard made the most of his scoring opportunities throughout the day, rolling in two valuable eagles on the 9th and 16th holes.
Garcia backed that up with four birdies, while dropping just one shot, a bogey that came on the opening hole.
It saw him surge to seven under par for the round where he signed off with a two-shot lead on Thursday, although many of the late starters weren’t able to finish their round due to darkness bringing an end to play.
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American Brian Harman carded an opening-round five-under-par 67 to get his week going with a good performance.
Leaderboard at the end of day 1 at @THEPLAYERSChamp:
1. @TheSergioGarcia -7
2. @HarmanBrian -5
T3. @MattFitz94 -4
T3. @CoreConn
T3. @ShaneLowryGolf
T6. @WestwoodLee -3
T6. @HogeGolf
T6. @_DennyMcCarthy
T6. @B_DeChambeau
T6. Rory Sabbatini
T6. @WillZalatoris— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 12, 2021
Harman saw out out the day two strokes behind Garcia and in second place.
Matthew Fitzpatrick, Corey Connors and Shane Lowry all went four under for their respective first rounds.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout made the best start out of all of the South Africans in the field. The 26-year-old shot a decent two-under-par 70 for his opening round, ending the day in a tie of 12th place on the leaderboard.
Dylan Frittelli shot one under (71) for his opening to the event, while Louis Oosthuizen went one over par, Branden Grace two over and Charl Schwartzel struggled with a five-over-par 77.
