Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood each opened with a 65 to share the first-round lead of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass Stadium.
Bradley’s 7-under par round came by the way of one bogey against six birdies and an eagle. The Vermont native’s day was highlighted by a sizzling five-hole stretch (his 6th-10th) of birdie-eagle-par-birdie-birdie en route to the day’s low round.
“I played — it’s probably one of my most complete rounds that I’ve played all year,” said Bradley.
“I don’t normally feel as comfortable as I did out on the golf course today. I felt very calm, and this is a course that can make you very uncomfortable, so when you have that feeling you can really go a long way.”
Meanwhile, Fleetwood signed for a bogey-free card with seven birdies, highlighted by a front-nine 30 which included a hat trick on Nos. 7, 8, and 9.
“I love the course. If you like golf, you should like this golf course really. It’s just about as fair as you’re going to get a test. If you hit it well like I did today, you’re going to have chances and you can shoot a score, and people are shooting scores,” said Fleetwood, who also shared the halftime lead with Bradley last week at Bay Hill.
“But you can also get it the other way, as soon as you start struggling and start going the other way, it can easily go against you, and I think — I do, I think it’s an amazing golf course for that, not because I’ve played well today, but as a test of golf and for somewhere to play, I think it’s great.”
The lead duo were one-shot clear of Brian Harman and Byeong-Hun An who sat T2 on 6-under 66.
Ryan Moore aced the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass en route to a 5-under par 65, joining Rory McIlroy and Vaughn Taylor at T5.
TOP-5 LEADERS
1. Tommy Fleetwood -7
2. Keegan Bradley -7
3. Brian Harman -6
3. Byeong-Hun An -6
5. Rory McIlroy -5
5. Vaughn Taylor – 5
5. Ryan Moore -5
OTHER NOTABLES
13. Patrick Reed -3
13. Dustin Johnson -3
13. Sergio Garcia -3
35. Jason Day -2
35. Webb Simpson -2
35. Adam Scott -2
35. Tiger Woods -2
53. Justin Thomas -1
70. Brooks Koepka E
104. Rickie Fowler +2
104. Justin Rose +2
104. Phil Mickelson +2
130. Jordan Spieth +4
