PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover completed with a flourish, making birdie on every of his final 4 holes to grab an early two-shot lead within the opening spherical of The Gamers Championship on Thursday.
Having fun with a brand new lease of life since he switched to an extended putter in 2023, the 45-year-old moved one stroke away from the elite subject when he sank an 18-footer on the iconic par-3 seventeenth.
After benefiting from a tailwind as he teed off on the par-4 18th, the six-time PGA Tour winner then struck a 9-iron to seven ft earlier than draining the putt to card a 6-under-par 66 on the TPC Sawgrass.
“I performed good,” Glover mentioned upon ending his spherical shortly after World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, second-ranked Rory McIlroy and World No. 3 Xander Schauffele had began out from the par-4 first in a mouth-watering supergroup. “That is the factor about this place is there’s at all times some actually good scores and at all times some actually dangerous scores. The margins are razor skinny right here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a bit, you can also make massive numbers in a rush,” added Glover, whose first-round scorecard included 9 birdies and three bogeys.
“So I occurred to have a bunch of fine numbers as we speak and a bunch of fine yardages and was capable of be aggressive and I putted nice. However any time you get off to a superb begin, it offers you confidence.”
Subsequent greatest among the many morning wave of starters had been Individuals Alex Smalley and Bud Cauley, Stephan Jaeger of Germany and Englishman Aaron Rai, who opened with 68s.
Joe Highsmith, who gained his first PGA Tour title on the Cognizant Traditional earlier this month, and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre began out with 69s.
Glover, greatest recognized for profitable the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, was actually the story of the morning as he bounced again from a birdie-bogey-bogey begin after teeing off on the par-4 tenth.
After enduring a 10-year title drought on the PGA Tour starting in mid-2011, he resurrected his profession with victory on the 2021 John Deere Traditional earlier than profitable twice extra in 2023 — on the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Requested to clarify this dramatic turnaround in fortune for a forty-something golfer, Glover replied: “Simply motivated, devoted. Type of simply do not wish to be accomplished at 45, truthfully. In ’21, I mentioned it again and again, informed me I may do it, after which 2023 after altering to the lengthy putter and proving myself there … I deep down consider I can nonetheless compete out right here at 45 and I do not wish to cease anytime quickly.”
The elite Gamers Championship subject is among the strongest within the recreation with the highest 10 golfers on the planet rankings – and 48 of the highest 50 – assembled on the TPC Sawgrass for the event’s 51st version.
Nevertheless, Thirty third-ranked Jason Day of Australia withdrew only one hour earlier than he was scheduled to tee off on Thursday morning because of an sickness.
–Mark Lamport-Stokes, Subject Degree Media