'Bad to worse': Adam Scott in 'shocking' drama at golf's richest event

It is usually the famous 'island green' at The Players Championship that sends shivers down the spines of even the world's best golfers.

However, as Adam Scott so brutally found out in his opening round, TPC Sawgrass has plenty more tricks up its sleeve to bring the best field in golf to its knees.

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On a day that saw play delayed by an hour after inclement weather overnight in Florida, England's Tommy Fleetwood shared the early lead with Pebble Beach winner Tom Hoge after the pair both shot six-under 66s.

Six players from the early side of the draw did not finish, meaning they will return early on Friday morning in Florida to play one or two holes before getting the rest of the day off.

Twelve players never even hit a tee shot.

Even with only 66 players completing the round, that was enough time for the Stadium Course to provide its share of thrills and spills, mostly the latter.

Perhaps surprisingly, Harold Varner III's tee shot at the treacherous 'island green' 17th hole was the only one that ended up in the water there out of 69.

That's not to say that the course's other water hazards didn't play their part as Scott can attest.

Australia's former Players champion had a nightmare at the 18th after sending back-to-back tee shots into the water that runs down the left side of the fairway.

"This has got to be right," one commentator said as he watched Scott's second tee shot follow the first into the drip.

"Oh no, can't believe it. That is shocking," he added.

A co-commentator added: "This is going from bad to worse".

The Aussie ended up slumping to a quadruple bogey on his way to a disappointing opening round of 78.

With a record $US20 million prize money on offer, including $US3.6 million for the winner, there's good reason why the the PGA Tour event is regarded as golf's unofficial fifth major.

However, while the PGA Tour has enjoyed ideal weather with no delays for nine weeks in four states across five time zones to start the year, this event couldn't have been any different.

More than an inch of overnight rain delayed the start by an hour. Storms in the area resulted in another delay of more than four hours.

Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Hoge share early lead

Fleetwood, a Ryder Cup star in Paris in 2018 who has gone two years since his last victory, returned from the long delay to complete a string of three straight birdies around the turn and then kept his round together with two big putts, one for par and another for birdie.

Hoge had an eagle on the par-5 second hole, his 11th of the round, and shot 31 on the front nine to join him in the clubhouse at 66.

Keith Mitchell was poised to join the until his approach to the 18th was right of the flag and landed on the slope of gnarly rough in the mounds, and he failed to save par. He was at 67, along with Riviera winner Joaquin Niemann, Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann.

Fleetwood has reason to be happy just to have a tee time. He missed the cut at the Honda Classic and narrowly stayed inside the top 50, one of the criterium for The Players.

For the most part, it was safe and steady play, far from perfect though Sawgrass rarely demands that. He was 6 under through 14 holes when he hit a wild drive into the pine straw to the right of the sixth fairway, leading to bogey.

He was even further to the right on the seventh, but a superb save from behind the green kept him from dropping another shot, and then he holed a 25-foot birdie on the par-3 eighth.

“I’m chuffed to be in on that score,” Fleetwood said.

“I felt like I drove the ball well aside from a couple, and I felt like I chipped and putted great. For sure, that was the most I could have got out of the round. So days like that are very, very pleasing.”

with agencies

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