Veterans keep an eye on the Tiger

For much of yesterday, the tiny eyes of a young alligator could be seen marginally above the surface of the pond that virtually encircles the 17th green at Sawgrass. It was as if he was willing someone to dunk a ball into the water, and to stupidly go in pursuit.

Of course, that never happened. For, unlike any other tournament, the Players Championship, on a course considered to be the toughest of any on the circuit, is one that calls on calm heads on steady shoulders.

It's not a time for silly actions.

Indeed, on a day which started with a spectacular electrical storm, forcing play to be delayed for over half an hour, and ended with the arrival of another storm with 68 players still to complete their first rounds, including Padraig Harrington, the benefit of experience was clearly apparent among those who managed to successfully conquer the course.

Jay Haas, at 49, and eyeing the lucre on offer on the Champions Tour, showed that experience, rather than how far you smash a golf ball off the tee, was a vital ingredient in conjuring a score. He wasn't alone.

While a number of the so-called young guns struggled, Haas - who shot a four-under-par 68 - was joined on that mark by Bob Tway, a sprightly 43; by Rocco Mediate, who has celebrated his 40th birthday, and by Skip Kendall (38), who is edging ever closer to that milestone.

So, in an event deemed just one rung removed from a major, players who might have considered their best days behind them were rejuvenated. But each and every one of them refused to get carried away.

Experience, that vital 15th club, told them that they have only taken the first steps in a marathon journey - and if the name of world number one Tiger Woods didn't make it onto the leaderboard, then they know he isn't too far adrift.

"You never win the tournament on the first day, but definitely can lose it," said Woods, who salvaged his round with two birdies in the final three holes for a level-par 70. "Today I kept myself in the ballgame." Which was no mean feat, considering how he has battled with his health for much of the week.

For most, it was a battle to simply stay in the hunt.

With the wind making club selection more important than ever, the ability to carve out a score, and not to lose touch, was vital.

Woods, who lost six pounds in weight in three days after his bout of food poisoning, laboured with his swing. Like all of the game's great players, however, he produced the kind of finish that can mean so much.

Having drifted to two over for his round approaching the most treacherous part of the course, he birdied the 16th, where his 12-foot eagle putt lipped out, and then knocked his tee-shot on the 17th to three feet for another birdie.

From chasing the game, he was back in a position to threaten.

"When you don't see Tiger's name on a leaderboard out the course, you think somebody is playing tricks on you," claimed Darren Clarke.

By getting in on level par, however, Woods has them looking back over their shoulders, and claimed it was "a heck of an accomplishment, considering the way I was hitting the ball".

For some reason, European golfers have struggled to contest in the Players - with Sandy Lyle the lone winner - but Clarke shot a 71 that could have been so much better, given the quality of golf he played.

And two others who have laboured in recent times rediscovered some form: Sergio Garcia eagled the 16th on his way to a 71, while Paul Lawrie required just 24 putts in accumulating the same score.

When the hooter sounded to halt play late in the evening, Harrington was on the 11th green with a seven foot putt to move to two-under. For much of the day, he had scrambled extremely well, his short game proving crucial. Although he missed five of 11 greens, he suffered only one bogey - at the fifth - and had birdies on the second, where he holed from four feet, and at the 10th where he sank a 15-footer. "It doesn't bother me, having to come back and have a seven-foot putt for birdie," said the Dubliner. "It means I can spend my time practising that exact putt before I go back out. Hopefully, I'll just knock it in."

Those in the clubhouse lead, however, were aware that a long journey remained to be travelled in pursuit of one of the game's biggest titles. As Mediate, a native of the area who plays the course over a dozen times a year, remarked: "The beauty of our game is you've got to do it for four days and, if you don't, then this day is worthless."

On this course, as Garcia observed, "accuracy is the key". Anyone who misses the fairways will invariably find a lie in thick rough up to four inches deep that leaves no option other than to pitch out onto the fairway.

Kendall, too, emphasised that whoever goes on to win must stay out of the rough. "It's brutal. If you hit it in there, you're not going to make the green on the par fours," he said. While Woods claimed, "those who manage to keep it accurate off the tee reap the rewards."

Which is precisely what Haas, who has enjoyed a rebirth with his game this season, managed to do. He hit 13 of 14 fairways and needed just 26 putts on the fast and subtle greens to record his 68.

"I've never played particularly well here but I love being here. I'm just frustrated that I don't play better," said Haas. Yesterday, though, he managed to continue his rich vein of form that has seen him finish second in the Bob Hope and reach the quarter-finals of the Accenture world matchplay.

"I was never a long hitter, never an unbelievable ball striker and never an unbelievable putter. I was just a good player in a lot of different parts of my game. This year I have rediscovered my drive, and I'm excited about the game again."

As one of the most experienced in the field, Haas knows the tournament is never won on the first day. It's still wide open.