No hidden secrets of Sawgrass as Glover finds early Players groove
OLD HAND: Lucas Glover answers a question after completing the first round of The Players Championship golf tournament Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Lucas Glover made nine birdies – including four in a row to finish – to set the pace in the Players Championship with a 6-under 66. There was no special sauce to the 2009 U.S. Open champions success.
“Hit a lot of fairways, make a lot of putts. No secret, honestly,” said Glover, who outside of a solo third in 2010 and T6 in 2017 has a pretty rough record at TPC Sawgrass with 10 missed cuts in 16 career Players starts.
“My cut-made-to-top-10 ratio is really high, so I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” said the 45-year-old American trying to become the second oldest Players champion behind Fred Funk (49 in 2005).
Australian Min Woo Lee went out in the afternoon in 5-under 31 on the front and Colombia’s Camilo Villegas did the same on the back in attempts to reel in Glover’s lead. England’s Aaron Rai, Germany’s Stephen Jaeger and Americans Alex Smalley and Bud Cauley shot 4-under 68s. Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Americans Joe Highsmith and Isaiah Salinda opened with 3-under 69s.
Glover’s career caught somewhat of a second wind after turning 40, when he snapped a 10-year victory drought in 2021 and then won consecutive late-season events in 2023 after switching to a long putter. While he’s accepted a role as elder spokesman on tour on issues ranging from the reduction in fully-exempt cards and fields starting in 2026 to the rollback of the golf ball in 2028, he’s not ready to accept that his competitive days after behind him.
“I think just motivated, dedicated,” he said of his sustained resolve. “Kind of just don’t want to be done at 45, honestly. I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45 and I don’t want to stop anytime soon.
“Honestly, from 10 years ago, 20 years ago, I get pretty ramped up out there. I get pretty excited. I have to rein that in sometimes. A place like here you got to rein in being too aggressive.”
Glover has enough experience to know that he’s only made it through the first leg of a marathon at a TPC Sawgrass Stadium that gives and takes with impunity.
“That’s the thing about this place is there’s always some really good scores and always some really bad scores,” he said. “It’s razor thin. The margins are razor thin here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a little, you can make big numbers in a hurry.
“So I happened to have a bunch of good numbers today and a bunch of good yardages and was able to be aggressive and I putted great. But any time you get off to a good start it gives you confidence. There will be some low scores this afternoon. The golf course is good.”
Rai, who makes his home in Ponte Vedra Beach and can play and practice at TPC Sawgrass regularly, made six birdies and two bogeys on Thursday.
“I think there’s definitely a lot of knowledge that you can apply tee to green which stands you in good stead,” Rai said. “But I think it’s very hard to rely too much on what you’ve seen on the greens from practicing here, just because they roll at a different speed and break slightly differently as well.”
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler went out in 3-under 33 on the front to start his bid for a three-peat. Rory McIlroy, playing with Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, fired 1-under 35 on the front.
