An eagle on the 11th on Thursday helped Christiaan Bezuidenhout to an opening four-under-par 68 in the opening round of the PGA Tour’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Bezuidenhout hit a soaring 261-yard approach into the green which took the slope and headed towards the hole. He left himself with a six-footer for eagle, which he made. He also made three birdies and a bogey, and shared sixth behind first-round leader Chad Ramey of the United States.
Ramey had a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to lead by one from Collin Morikawa, who had an eagle and five birdies in his flawless opening round. There were three players two shots further back in a share of third on five-under, and Bezuidenhout shared sixth with five other players, including world number two Scottie Scheffler.
Garrick Higgo also had a good start with his two-under-par 70 giving him a share of 19th, while Dylan Frittelli was on level-par through 16 holes when play was suspended for darkness.
Rory McIlroy took 31 putts en route to a four-over 76 that left him 12 strokes off Ramey’s pace, but it was his driver which was the chief culprit in his poor start.
Ramey didn’t look like a Players Championship rookie as he took the lead in the suspended first round. The 30-year-old from Mississippi, who won the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship, birdied six of his first 11 holes to sprint out of the blocks, then birdied 16 and 17.
