PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sepp Straka saved par seven times, chipped in for eagle late in his round and avoided big trouble for a 5-under 67 and a share of the lead at the Players Championship amid wind, rain, sunshine and darkness.
Whether he remains atop the leaderboard at TPC Sawgrass with Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges and Sahith Theegala would not be determined until Friday morning.
Austin Smotherman was at 5 under and had a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole, the par-5 ninth. It looked as though he might try to finish, but when two players in his group ran into trouble and darkness thickened, he stuck tees in the ground to mark it until the morning.
“Do I wish I hit the chip in the morning as well? Went back and forth,” Smotherman said. “The fact I was even questioning it, I probably should have maybe backed off.”
He was one of four players who failed to finish the round.
The 12 hours of golf was enough time for plenty of theatrics — 38 balls in the water along the three closing holes on the Stadium Course, two eagles from the fairway and a downpour that led to a 21-minute delay. By the afternoon, rain gave way to the sun casting shadows within minutes.
Rory McIlroy, who withdrew from Bay Hill last week because of back problems, said he felt no pain except for the putter, failing to make anything longer than 6 feet in his round of 74.
Collin Morikawa, who has been among the top players this season, withdrew after one hole after he felt his back seize up during a practice swing.
Scottie Scheffler failed to break par for the fourth opening round in his last five tournaments. He struggled to find the fairway and spent more than hour on the range in a downpour after his 72.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was no one carded lower than a 67 — depending on Smotherman’s putt Friday morning. The last time that happened in an opening round in this event was 2017.
Straka managed to go bogey-free, with some serious scrambling on the back nine. He saved par with a 12-foot putt on No. 10, hit into the water with his second shot on the par-5 11 and escaped with par with another 12-foot putt. He chipped in from 50 feet for his eagle on the par-5 16th, and then clipped a wedge to tap-in range from 67 yards out in the fairway on the 18th.
“I felt like all day I was playing from the rough, which is not ideal out here,” Straka said. “Fortunately my iron play and wedge play was pretty nice today, and I was able to make a lot of putts to save some pars.”
Theegala, who made three straight birdies early, ran into trouble from the left bunker for bogey on the par-5 ninth and then turned his fortunes around when his wedge from just under 100 yards rammed into the cup for eagle on No. 12.
“For it to crash into the pin and go in is pretty cool. It’s a nice bonus,” Theegala said.
Justin Thomas, who returned last week at Bay Hill after having back surgery in November, opened with three straight birdies and wound up with a 68.
“Literally every single thing you could imagine I did quite a bit better [than last week],” said Thomas, who shot 79-79 and missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Cameron Young, Russell Henley and Taylor Moore also were at 68. The group at 69 included Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau, who had four straight birdies and followed that with four straight bogeys.
Henley was lucky to finish his round. He played in the morning during the brief delay, and it was raining so hard that he dashed to the clubhouse from the nearby second green without realizing players were being held in place for the fast-moving storm.
Ben Griffin saved him by telling him play was starting, and Henley got back to the green.
