Players Championship 2021 R1
March 11-14
TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
$15,000,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Sergio Garcia started his round on the back nine and made the turn at 3-under thanks to an eagle on the par-5 16th. He bogeyed the 1st but recovered with a birdie and closed his round birdie-birdie-eagle to take a two-shot lead in The Players Championship with a 7-under 65.

"I just love it," he said of TPC Sawgrass. "I've always said it, Valderrama and this course are some of my top favorite ones and for some reason they just, it just kind of fits my eye.

"I see what I want to do pretty much every hole and then it's a matter of doing it, but it definitely I feel more comfortable and I've done well. So all those things help."

Brian Harman fired three bogeys and three birdies to make the turn at even par then made five birdies in the next seven holes for a 5-under 67 to take solo second place.

"You know you're going to have a stretch like that at some point to where the ball bounces into the wrong spot, you miss a putt, you just barely miss a fairway. That's just part of the rub of this place. So I knew I was playing well. I prepared really well, I played really great in the practice round, so I figured if I could just stay patient."

Matthew Fitzpatrick, Corey Conners and Shane Lowry are tied in third place at 4-under.

Last week's winner, Bryson DeChambeau, made six birdies and three bogeys for a 69 to tie in sixth place alongside runner-up Lee Westwood and four others.

Rory McIlroy, whose title defence ground to a halt after one round last year due to Covid-19, started his round on the back nine with a double-bogey at the par-4 10th, bogeyed the par-3 13th and quadruple-bogeyed the par-4 18th to make the turn at 43.

He recovered a little with back-to-back birdies on the 1st and 2nd but bogeyed the next two holes, birdied the 5th and made another bogey at the 9th to close with a 7-over 79, his worst score since his opening round at the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush.

"The big number on 18 didn't help and then doubling the first wasn't helpful, either," said McIlroy. "It's hard to recover when you just haven't played good. If you take that 18th hole out, it still wasn't a very good day."

McIlroy wasn't the only one struggling. By the time play was called due to darkness with twenty one players still on the course, thirteen had scores of 80 or higher.

Henrik Stenson had the worst round of the day, his 85 was his highest score ever on the PGA Tour.