Scottie Scheffler has won each of the last two Players Championships, but it’s a fellow Major winner who’s 17 years older who was the man to beat with an early lead on TPC Sawgrass.
Lucas Glover fired an opening round 6-under par 66 to lead the field at the 51st Players, and as he typically does, took it in stride.
“Hitting a lot of fairways, making a lot of putts. No secret, honestly. You probably can say that most places on TOUR. But for me, my cut-made-to-top-10 ratio is really high, so I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” said Glover.
45-year-old Glover seemed to have discovered a fountain of youth at another TPC layout four years ago in winning the John Deere Classic on Deere Run in the Quad Cities, ending a decade-long victory drought. He then went on to capture the regular season ending 2023 Wyndham Championship as well as the opening playoff event in Memphis, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, to cap off a terrific season. That’s something we briefly reminisced about following his stellar first round.
“I think just motivated and dedicated. Kind of just don’t want to be done at 45, honestly. As you know, ’21 told me I could do it, and then 2023 after changing to the long putter and proving myself there, and now it’s – as you know, I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45 and I don’t want to stop anytime soon,” Glover told me.
The 2009 U.S. Open winner survived a five-hole stretch Thursday. Beginning on the par-3 8th, he made three bogeys and two birdies before racking up nothing but birdies on his final four holes.
“That’s the thing about this place is there’s always some really good scores and always some really bad scores. 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, added Glover. “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.”
The Players Championship is the most lucrative event on the PGA Tour calendar, with a $25 million purse and a top prize of $4.5 million. The Players once again will have an incredibly strong field with 48 of the top 50 golfers in the world competing.
It also features one of the most famous signature holes in golf, the island-green par-3 17th, and you have the makings of what’s widely considered the sport’s “fifth” major.
The Players runs through Sunday, and you have various options to watch the strongest field in golf. On Thursday and Friday, Golf Channel will broadcast from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET, while NBC takes over on the weekend, airing from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET on Sunday.
PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ also offers extensive online coverage for those who prefer streaming, including featured groups, daily early-round action, and exclusive behind-the-scenes content. Additionally, NBC’s coverage is streamed on Peacock, and Golf Channel’s broadcasts are available on nbcsports.com and the NBC Sports App.
