The Players Championship, considered the ‘big fifth’ in golf, was unable to complete the first round this Thursday at the TPC Sawgrass, in Ponte Vedra Beach, after several delays due to rain, with the Spanish Jon Rahm with three shots under par in a provisional eleventh position.
After delaying the start of the game by an hour due to heavy rain, storms in the area caused a interruption for more than four hours that prevented all the players from completing their first round since, when the game resumed, the lack of light on the field forced its suspension until Friday morning. Rahm was one of the players who was able to present his first complete card and he did so with a total of 69 strokes (-3) with five birdies and two bogeys.
At the time the game was stopped, the British Tommy Fleetwood and the American Tom Hoge lead the classification, with 66 hits (-6). A quartet of players follow at -5. They are the Americans Kramer Hickok and Keith Mitchell, the Chilean Joaquin Niemann and the Indian Anirban Lahiri. The other participating Spaniard, Sergio García, with 71 strokes and one under par, ranks 40th.
Great players like the American Collin Morikawa, number two in the world ranking, and Justin Thomas, defending champion in The Players, are among the players who have either not completed the course or have not even been able to start it.