The flag was in a tempting location, back and left on the 13th green at the TPC Sawgrass with a pond running alongside the left side. Sergio Garcia took dead aim with a 7-iron and the ball never left its target.
This is nothing new with Garcia, who rarely struggles to make solid contact.
What pleased him was to see the 6-foot putt break sharply toward the water and drop into the center of the cup for one of seven birdies Thursday at The Players Championship, leading to a 6-under 66 and a two-shot lead.
The 28-year-old Spaniard has strung together three impressive rounds on the frightening Stadium Course, even if his timing is a little off. The first two scores (67-66) came last year and enabled him to finish second. This one was merely a great start, but he'll take it.
Garcia is mired in an 0-for-53 drought on the PGA Tour, the longest of his career.
Kenny Perry and Paul Goydos each had a 68 in the mild, morning breeze on a perfectly conditioned golf course.
McKAY TIES COURSE MARK
At Williamsburg, Va., the booming drives were there, but more often than not, Michelle Wie didn't know where they were going in her first round on the LPGA Tour since February.
The best scores, as usual, belonged to just about everyone else -- a course record-tying 63 by Scotland's Mhairi McKay, and a potential battle looming between Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam in the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill.
Once the most heralded young player in the women's game, Wie managed just one birdie in a zig-zagging 4-over 75 on a soggy day, even as the River Course yielded its fourth 8-under 63 in six years, 64s to Sorenstam and Sun Young Yoo, and 65s to Ochoa and Diana D'Alessio.
Six others were three off the pace, and there were eight more four behind.
While 90 players in the field of 144 shot par or better, Wie was lucky to get off as easily as she did. She pulled her drive on the par-5 seventh, and only a tree kept it from flying out of bounds.
She hit into the greenside rough on the par-3 13th, and it kicked onto the green. She hit her drive way right on the wide open par-4 14th, and another tree knocked it down.
