MIAMI (AFP) – Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy matched a course record with 10 birdies to share the early lead with reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele in Thursday's opening round of The Players Championship.
Schauffele fired a bogey-free, seven-under par 65 and was level with McIlroy atop the US PGA Tour leaderboard after 18 holes at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
"It's always nice to go bogey-free round at Sawgrass," Schauffele said after his lowest-ever round at the famed course. "Just got a couple good breaks, made a couple of nice putts and all in all a good start."
The 30-year-old American, who hasn't won since the 2022 Scottish Open, found nine of 14 fairways in his first bogey-free round of 15 at the Players.
"The bogeys, or the scares of a bogey, come when you miss the fairways," Schauffele said. "The rough is pretty thick. Shockingly thick in some cases. You've just got to keep it on the short grass."
World number two McIlroy, the 2019 Players winner, stumbled to a 76 in his final round last week at Bay Hill but bounced back after working on his irons.
"Overall I'm really happy with how the day went," McIlroy said. "Much improved from Sunday at Bay Hill. Put a lot of work in over the last three days. Feel like I saw a lot of progress out there."
"Iron play was much improved and that's something I've worked a lot on. I hit balls for five hours on Monday to try and figure it all out and I feel like I got somewhere. It was a continuation of the other things I had been doing well, putted well the last three rounds last week and that fed into today. Just really happy to see some iron shots go close again."
No one got closer than New Zealand's Ryan Fox, who had the first back-to-back eagles in Players history after an eagle at the par-5 16th, dropping his second shot inches from the hole, and an ace at the famed par-3 17th island hole on his way to shooting 69.
Sawgrass offered frustration as well, with Canada's Adam Hadwin knocking his second shot at 18 into the water and then hurling his club into the water seconds later. He closed with a bogey to shoot 75.
Another Canadian, Nick Taylor was third in the clubhouse on 66.
Sixth-ranked Schauffele began on the back nine and birdied the par-5 11th after reaching the green in two then added another birdie on a 13-foot putt at the 12th.
At the 18th, Schauffele dropped his approach inside three feet from the hole to set up a birdie that began a run of four in a row, the highlight among them a 25-foot birdie putt at the par-3 third.
'NICE WAY TO START'
Schauffele added a final birdie after dropping his approach at the fifth just inside three feet.
McIlroy, who also began at the 10th, birdied his first three holes -- the 10th on a putt from just inside six feet, the par-5 11th on a tap-in after reaching the green in two and the 12th after landing his approach inside five feet of the hole.
"That second shot on 10 and hitting it in close proved I could do what I was doing in practice under the heat of competition," McIlroy said. "It was a nice way to start."
He birdied the 14th from just inside 15 feet, the par-5 16th after pitching his third shot inches from the hole and the par-3 17th island hole from just beyond six feet.
McIlroy found water off the tee at the 18th hole and made bogey but answered with a birdie at the par-5 second after reaching the green in two.
McIlroy sank birdie putts from 10 feet at the fourth and 15 feet at the sixth but splashed his tee shot again at the seventh on his way to a double bogey that tumbled him from the lead.
The Northern Ireland star answered with a 17-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th, becoming the fifth golfer to make 10 birdies in a single Players round.