The Players Championship: Graeme McDowell is five shots off the pace set by John Mallinger and Sweden's Richard S Johnson after his first round of The Players' Championship at Sawgrass. The Ulsterman carded a one-under-par 71 in Florida, while Rory McIlroy suffered a baptism of fire over the notorious closing holes for a 74.
Having birdied the par-five 16th to go to two under, the 20-year-old treble-bogeyed the par-three 17th Island Hole and then bogeyed the 18th to finish at two over.
Dubliner and three-time major winner Pádraig Harrington was level par through 13 holes.
American Mallinger posted the early clubhouse lead with a six-under-par 66 and was joined by Johnson later in the day after the Swede birdied the last.
Ian Poulter is a shot further back alongside Americans Jonathan Byrd and David Toms, while Jeev Milkha Singh, Nick O’Hern and John Rollins of the USA each carded four-under 68s.
Toms had been in line to beat the course record of nine-under 63 set by Fred Couples in 1992 and matched by Greg Norman in 1994, but negotiated the final four holes at four over par, double-bogeying the 18th.
Poulter's good form in the United States continued with a 67. Fresh from a tie for fifth place at last week's Quail Hollow Championship, the Englishman kept his momentum going at the Players Stadium Course.
Poulter got his opening round up and running with a run of three birdies in a row between the fourth and sixth holes before bogeying the par-five ninth.
He bounced straight back with a birdie three at the 10th and then moved onto the leaderboard with birdies at the 16th and 17th, and completed the notoriously difficult closing stretch by saving par at the par-four 18th having found greenside rough.
The Ryder Cup player chipped out to nine feet and sank the par putt.
"I've played one week on, one week off until just after the Masters, so it's been hard to get into a routine," Poulter said. "But my game's been in shape since then and I felt it was only a matter of time.
"This is my third week in a row and it's nice that I've only had seven tournaments going into this week and I feel fresh."
McDowell, who was one over through 10 before birdies at the 11th and the last, has Tiger Woods and defending champion Sergio Garcia for company. The Spaniard suffered a double-bogey five at the eighth hole to come home in 38.
"I think it's been a while since I hit the ball that badly, but I don't know, I'll find a way," said Garcia, looking to be the first player in the tournament's 35-year history to successfully defend his title.
Woods was again striving to find his complete game, this time striking the ball to his liking but failing to get his putter going, missing eight birdie putts inside 15 feet.
"I didn't hit good putts," Woods said. "My speed was off early, then I got my speed down at the end and I kept lipping out putts.
"I just need to obviously read them better or hit better putts, one of the two."
