Lucas Glover putts for birdie on the second inexperienced through the first spherical of the Gamers Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Seashore, Fl. Thursday March 13, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] 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 a protracted 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 stated 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 unhealthy scores. The margins are razor skinny right here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a bit, you may make large numbers in a rush,” added Glover, whose first-round scorecard included 9 birdies and three bogeys.
“So I occurred to have a bunch of excellent numbers right now and a bunch of excellent yardages and was in a position to be aggressive and I putted nice. However any time you get off to begin, it provides you confidence.”
Subsequent finest 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 Basic earlier this month, and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre began out with 69s.
Glover, finest identified for successful the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, was definitely 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 Basic earlier than successful twice extra in 2023 — on the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Requested to elucidate this dramatic turnaround in fortune for a forty-something golfer, Glover replied: “Simply motivated, devoted. Sort of simply do not need to be achieved at 45, truthfully. In ’21, I stated it time and again, advised me I might 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 need to cease anytime quickly.”
The elite Gamers Championship subject is among the strongest within the sport with the highest 10 golfers on this planet rankings – and 48 of the highest 50 – assembled on the TPC Sawgrass for the match’s 51st version.
Nonetheless, Thirty third-ranked Jason Day of Australia withdrew only one hour earlier than he was scheduled to tee off on Thursday morning as a result of an sickness.
–Mark Lamport-Stokes, Area Stage Media
