The Players Championship: Rickie Fowler, Jason Day take early leads at Sawgrass

Some notes after a morning walking around the game’s “fifth major” and one big party at TPC Sawgrass.

We’re just a few hours into the 2017 Players Championship, but there’s already been plenty to take in and enjoy. Here are some notes after a morning walking around TPC Sawgrass with some of the marquee players in the field.

Rickie and JDay get turns at the top

The two biggest names to make a run at the top of the board in the morning wave were Rickie Fowler and Jason Day. Both got it to 4-under to take a share of the lead early in their second nine. But it was a grind from there on in, with Rickie encountering troubles in the middle of his second nine and Day giving away three shots over his final four holes.

Fowler’s big mistake came at the difficult 6th hole. Rickie hit an inexplicably poor shot from the middle of the fairway, then caught an inexplicably poor break. The ball cracked into one of the several palm trees abutting the right side of the green, hit a cart path, and bounded behind a wine stand.

As money changed hands and bottles of Bill Hill Estate were popped and poured, Rickie tried to punch out from behind the tent and get back in play. It took three cuts just to get onto the green, where he made a putt for a double bogey that quickly bounced him from the top of the board. Rickie did get a little back on his last hole of the day, putting it in the center of the cup from 25 feet to get to 2-under and inside the top 15.

With conditions looking tougher for the afternoon, that should still be a strong number to keep him around that tied for 14th position. Despite his brutal finish, Day is also right there with him.

Rickie was seventh in strokes gained off the tee and also seventh in SG-putting when he finished his round, but was a bit of a mess in the middle. Straighten that out on a course that he seems to be comfortable with and he should be around all weekend.

Sawgrass Stress

A round at The Players Championship is a constant tightrope. The stress of getting through 18 holes during a championship setup at TPC Sawgrass has to be a bit exhausting. Sure, there are mid-60s rounds and unlike a typical U.S. Open, there are consistent birdie chances to be had. But it all feels so precarious — every hole is a new opportunity to turn a 68 into a 72 or a 72 into a 76.

That was the biggest impressions after following three of the best doing it right now, and three former Players Champions. The course made Fowler, Day, and Henrik Stenson look like hacks at moments and then quickly reminded you of why they’re the best in the world. It was a grind, however, just to avoid bogeys and doubles and stay within striking distance of the top of the board.

These players are the best in the world, but watching it all just looks stressful. A 10-footer to save par or avoid a double is different for them, but it still looks tenuous. Nevertheless, they converted time and again to show why they’re pros and you’re not. That Stenson turned in an even-par card of 72 was remarkable. He hit the ball like garbage for the nine holes I followed, even with his 3-wood and long irons, which the top pros in the game say are the most impressive in the world. Stenson’s peers stop on the range when he is firing rockets with those clubs.

On Thursday, he was sending them off the grid and into the crowd. At the 6th, he saved a bogey with a putt from 10 feet. After another miss right with his fairway wood, he saved par at the 7th with another putt from just inside 10 feet. There was nothing spectacular or highlight-y about these stressful saves, but just a reminder of how little comes easy here, especially when you miss a fairway or two with what many consider to be the biggest weapons in the game, the Iceman’s fairway woods.

Millenial Spieth

The pledge apparently doesn’t extend to the golf course.

Jordan Spieth went for his phone in the middle of his round. It was not for an Instagram shot, however, but the latest display of his nutty (in a good way!) competitiveness. Spieth took a photo of a bunker at the 1st hole — his 10th of the day — because he thought it was raked like trash. When asked what he was snapping with his phone, Spieth responded:

It was just a bunker that was raked to where it just kind of looked like somebody didn't really care much to do it or were rushing off the green, because I had, I was, I think, in worse than a plugged lie, when it just trickled into it. And I overreacted probably a bit, but all in all, you just don't see that very often and I know my guy, Michael, rakes and makes sure that that's exactly the way that it was when he went in there, so that if you hit it in the bunker, everybody gets the same kind of thing. And you don't see it -- guys are very good 99.9 percent of the time and that was very frustrating, because I knew where I was, from a normal lie, it wasn't too bad; and from that lie I had no chance.

I watched Spieth hit the approach shot that ended up in that bunker, and it looked like one of the better recovery shots of the morning. Off the pine straw, with a tree trunk waiting to snap his club in two on the follow through, Spieth popped one back into play and out of the trees. It looked like the ball would run onto the green, but it died and fell into that bunker lie which prompted photographic documentation.

This was a new one — what happens now with this bit of evidence is TBD.

Talking About Practice

Phil Mickelson is in good enough shape on the leaderboard after deciding to skip three practice round days completely and come in cold.

Mickelson is 2-under following an opening 70 and after the round, he did a less incredulous Allen Iverson impression and downplayed the need for practice this week.

“The course really isn't that different,” Mickelson said. “No. 12 is a little bit different, but it's -- I've played here 25 years, so it's not like that one round was going to make a big difference.”

The party gets going early

The Players is one big party and it was in full effect in the first wave of tee times on the first day. There are refreshment tents everywhere and a wide array of hospitality areas where people congregate, drink, and occasionally watch golf. At a “Wine Lounge” next to the 8th green, several fans just kept it going right through the intervening professional golf tournament happening nearby. As Day lined up a tough wedge shot over a bunker, several rounds of loud shouts went around as the Aussie just went ahead and played up and onto the green through the noise.

It seemed a little early for all this, but the “Wine Lounge” was clearly occupied with more important matters than the golf. The players are used to it by now but it’s still a little weird that they can play through the din of a bar but the faintest camera noise from a phone 25 yards away can get them to stop mid-swing.