Golf | Sergio Garcia grabs Players lead

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The flag was in a tempting location — back and left on the 13th green at the TPC Sawgrass, with a pond running alongside the left side. Sergio Garcia took dead aim with a 7-iron, and the ball never left its target.

This is nothing new with Garcia, who rarely struggles to make solid contact.

What pleased him was to see the 6-foot putt break sharply toward the water and drop into the center of the cup for one of seven birdies Thursday at The Players Championship, leading to a 6-under 66 and a two-shot lead.

"I'm just looking forward to keep doing the same things — keep hitting the ball well, keep chipping well and keep putting well," Garcia said. "And then hopefully, by the end of the week, we'll be where we are supposed to be."

That would be posing with a trophy, something Garcia has not done in nearly three years.

The 28-year-old Spaniard has strung together three impressive rounds on the frightening Stadium Course, even if his timing is a little off. The first two scores (67-66) came last year and enabled him to finish second. This one was merely a great start, but he'll take it.

Garcia is mired in an 0-for-53 drought on the PGA Tour, the longest of his career, and while he is savvy enough to realize that leading after one round only amounts to a pat on the back, it was a small step in the right direction.

"At the end of the day, the only thing I can do is keep working on it, keep giving myself chances, and it's going to happen," he said. "I feel like I'm getting closer and closer. At least now, I feel like I can do it."

Kenny Perry and Paul Goydos each had 68s in the mild, morning breeze on a perfectly conditioned golf course. Sawgrass turned tricky, if not downright difficult, in the afternoon, and Ernie Els was among those who paid dearly.

Els was at 2 under until his wedge came up 20 feet short of the island green on the 17th, and he barely kept his third shot on land. He wound up with a triple bogey, and a 12-foot birdie on the final hole for a 72 didn't improve his spirits much.

"I think they should blow it up," Els said. "Everything you worked for in 4 ½ hours, in one shot it's all gone."

Garcia might face a tougher task in the second round, for he also played in the morning. Only eight of the 34 rounds under par came in the afternoon with increasingly blustery conditions.

Todd Hamilton was the best among late starters with a 69, while Wachovia winner Anthony Kim rallied for a 70.

Fred Couples of Seattle was tied for ninth after a 2-under 70, while Puyallup's Ryan Moore (72) was tied for 35th.

Couples didn't realize until a few months ago that he wasn't eligible for The Players, an event he has won twice and counts among his favorite. He missed nearly all of last year with back problems, so he wasn't among the top 125 on the money list.

But with so many players pulling out, from Tiger Woods to Martin Kaymer of Germany, Couples kept moving up the alternate list until he got in.

"I feel pretty confident," Couples said. "I'm not playing tremendous golf, but if you do a few things, you can inch your way up there."

Masters champion Trevor Immelman withdrew because of an illness.

Other tournaments

• The booming drives were there, but more often than not, Michelle Wie didn't know where they were going in her first round on the LPGA Tour since February.

The best scores, as usual, belonged to just about everyone else — a course-record-tying 63 by Scotland's Mhairi McKay, and a potential battle looming between Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam in the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va.

Wie managed just one birdie in a zigzagging 4-over 75 on a soggy day, even as the River Course yielded its fourth 8-under 63 in six years, 64s to Sorenstam and Sun Young Yoo, and 65s to Ochoa and Diana D'Alessio.

• John Daly shot a 5-under 67 in the Italian Open, leaving him three strokes behind first-round leaders Ross McGowan and Marco Ruiz in Milan.