Max Homa’s start to the day at The Players Championship was better than most.
The 35-year-old started on the par-4 10th TPC Sawgrass. He split the fairway and then pulled the gap wedge from 137 to attack the flag. The ball landed right of the flag, bounced a few times and then rolled back into the hole for an opening eagle.
“It was good,” Homa said after the round. “I thought if I drew my hole wedge three or four right, it wouldn’t last long, and if I hit it well, maybe it would work there. It’s rare that it goes into the hole, but it worked itself out perfectly.”
This was the start of a confusing day for Homa in TPC Sawgrass. He followed his eagle with a birdie on the par-5 11th and then bogeyed 12. A bogey at 14 brought him back to even par and then Homa double bogeyed the 15th to fall to 2 for the day. He dropped another putt at the start and then the pendulum swung out of his way as he birdied 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 to get back to 2 under.
But Homa’s rollercoaster dipped once again on the par-5 ninth, where he pulled his tee shot left into the trees and then missed a five-foot putt to drop a stroke and end the day at 1 under.
“I played really well, so it was very disappointing how messy it was,” Homa said. “But it also made it kind of easier to know that if you kept swinging, it would go to the right place, but it was one of the weirdest days I’ve ever had.”
After going 12 to 15 in 5, Homa had to find a way to reset quickly, which is easier said than done on Pete Dye’s brutal track.
“You really have to have conversations with yourself that you have to start over,” Homa said. “Very upset and you just have to remind yourself that it wasn’t that far. This is a very difficult golf course, so it’s good to take some good swings and hit some good shots to go the other way, but that morning was very tricky.”
But Homa wasn’t the only one in the early wave Thursday at The Players Championship who got off to a hot start before being bled by Dye’s masterpiece.
Tony Finau opened his day with five birdies in the first seven holes. Then the wheels started spinning. He bogeyed 17 and 18 to make the turn at 3 under. He gave shot and No. 1 and No. 2 to fall further, and then bogey No. 5 to fall back to the grass.
But Finau finished with a flurry, bogeying 6, 7 and 9 to post 3 under.
“Overall, it was kind of a roller coaster day,” Finau said. “I was cruising early, and then I got punched in the mouth mid-round with a bunch of charms, I jumped on the gravel train. Really happy with the balance, I had to finish where I started and shoot a few down.
“I was happy that the roller coaster ended up moving this way at the end and not down.”
While Homa and Finau had tense days at the Players, no pro had a crazier day at TPC Sawgrass than Max Greyserman.
The 30-year-old went to 5-under 31 and held an outright lead at the start. But Grayserman’s lead was short-lived, as he was defeated after nine. He started with three straight bogeys from 10 to 12 and then made a double on 13. Another double followed on 15 before making a birdie on 16. After going 31, Greyserman came home in 42 to shoot 1 over for the day.
The beauty of Pete Dye’s design is that birds can be hatched if you place the ball in the right spot, but the big numbers are hidden if you get out of position.
Either you have a full game, or you will eventually be exposed.
“I think it’s one of those unique tests where you don’t favor any particular kind of play, and it’s definitely not one where you get up on top and try to swing as much as you can,” said Maverick McNealy, who shot 5 under to take the early lead Thursday. “Shot value is really important. You have to hit every club in your bag, every shape imaginable.”
If you don’t, TPC Sawgrass can put you in the blender — one that only mental fortitude and maybe a little rain delay reset can get you out of.
