The first day of play at the Players Championship on the PGA Tour saw a fantastic round from Roberto Castro, who tied the course record with a 63 on the day to put himself up three on Rory McIlroy after finishing his day on Thursday.
Castro has a three shot lead over McIlroy and Zach Johnson and the 267th ranked player in the world had one of the best days of his career, hitting shot after shot to tie the course record at TPC Sawgrass on the Stadium Course. He hit seven birdies on the day along with an eagle to tie Greg Norman and Fred Couples for the record and one of his playing partners Jason Bohn said that it was one of the best rounds he has ever seen, as he shot a 68 on the day.
McIlroy was solid on Thursday and appears to be coming around after an awful start to the year with missing cuts and his walkoff at the Honda Classic. He shot a six under par for a 66 and puts himself in great position to get through the weekend. The top of the leaderboard is filled with names tied at five under, including Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker and Casey Wittenberg, while there are other names just under at one more shot back with Henrik Stenson and David Lingmerth.
Tiger Woods got his day started in the afternoon and was one under early and while he has been excellent on tour this year, he has won only once in 15 tries at the tournament and is in action for the first time since playing at Augusta national in the Masters. Phil Mickelson is also looking for a strong showing on Thursday and was one of the other late starters along with Bubba Watson.
Castro had a great day and gave one of his best performances ever after having his career best finish be seventh at the Greenbrier Classic last year and this year his best was 16th at Phoenix, where Mickelson won. Castro was better than anyone else on Thursday and was able to get through the back nine first with a five under 31 while hitting birdies on the final three holes, which are considered some of the toughest on tour.
"I hit it close a lot," said Castro, whose aunt, Jenny Lidback, played on the LPGA Tour and whose family on his mother's side comes from Peru.
Castro set up his irons with his accuracy off the tee, hitting all but one fairway and 15 of 18 greens in regulation. He had 10 one-putts and 26 putts in all.
