PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — That morning 75 by No. 2 in the world, Jordan Spieth? Pretty surprising, mildly more so than those numbers thrown down by some of the game’s biggest stars: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, and Matt Kuchar had 73s; Lee Westwood a 76; Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald 77s.
But for some of the good stuff Thursday in Round 1 of The Players Championship, you just had to turn the Official World Golf Ranking upside down and look at what shook out: No. 228 Derek Fathauer and No. 153 David Hearn.
Each of them played in the afternoon when the wind offered the most fury, but the good news is they began at the 10th and thus got 17 and 18 done with before it gained in strength.