Thursday's golf: McIlroy shoots 65 with two shots in the water at Players Championship

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — Rory McIlroy began The Players Championship with a 65 on his scorecard, two tee shots that went into the water and one lengthy dispute about where to take a penalty drop on Thursday.

McIlroy ended the day with 10 birdies for his lowest start ever at the TPC Sawgrass, leaving him tied with Xander Schauffele among early starters. He would love to have back the tee shots on the 18th and the seventh holes, both of which found water and slowed his momentum on an otherwise superb display of golf.

It was the drop on No. 7 that caused so much conversation with Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland, and some confusion on where he should drop.

“I think Jordan was just trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing,” McIlroy said. “I was pretty sure that my ball had crossed where I was sort of dropping it. It’s so hard, right? Because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant. But I think, again, he was just trying to make sure that I was going to do the right thing.”

McIlroy was 8 under for the day playing the par-4 seventh – his 16th hole of the round – when he pulled his tee shot. The land slopes toward a large pond, meaning the only gallery is on the opposite side of the fairway. Television replays saw the ball bounce, but not where.

The question became was it above or below the red hazard line. Had it landed above, McIlroy would take a one-shot penalty and drop it near were it crossed the line into the water. But if it were below the line – closer to the water – he would have had to take his penalty and drop back by the tee box on the 452-yard hole.

McIlroy had already taken his drop when his playing partners had questions. Spieth was heard to say, “We don't know for sure that it crossed the line.”

“I'm pretty comfortable I saw it above the red line,” McIlroy said.

At one point it appeared to get testy between Spieth, McIlroy and caddie Harry Diamond.

“Everyone that I'm hearing had eyes on it is … saying they were 100% certain it landed below the line,” Spieth said.

“Who's everybody, Jordan? Diamond said.

“Who are you talking about?” McIlroy added.

Spieth said all that mattered was what McIlroy thought.

A rules official arrived but was of little use without having seen the shots, and with the camera angle unable to capture exactly where the ball landed.

“I think my ball bounced above the red line, but it's not definitive,” McIlroy told the official. “I'm pretty comfortable it did. We're trying to check with TV and they can't say.”

This went on so long that it took some 30 minutes to complete the hole. McIlroy said he was trying to take the drop in the most conservative spot. Eventually, he came up short of the green with his third shot, ran it 10 feet by the hole and missed the putt to take double bogey.

Hovland, who was involved in a similar tense dispute involving Daniel Berger at The Players two years ago, declined comment and Spieth bolted into the clubhouse after the round.

“I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves, protect the field, as well,” McIlroy said after his round. “I wouldn’t say it (the debate with Spieth) was needless. I think he was just trying to make sure that what happened was the right thing.”

Adding to the attention was their place outside the ropes. McIlroy resigned from the PGA Tour policy board in November, and Spieth was chosen to finish his term as the tour was trying to negotiate investment deals with private equity and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

McIlroy and Spieth also were at odds last month at Pebble Beach on whether the PGA Tour needed a deal with the Public Investment Fund.

They also disagree on whether LIV Golf players should be punished if they ever came back to the PGA Tour. McIlroy doesn't think they should.

There also was an inquiry into McIlroy's tee shot on the 18th. He dropped at the start of the fairway, not by the tee box, and managed to hit 3-wood to the front of the green and escape with a bogey.

“Again, adamant it crossed (land), it’s just a matter of where it crosses. I think this golf course more than any other, it sort of produces those situations a little bit,” McIlroy said. "I feel like I’m one of the most conscientious golfers out here, so if I feel like I’ve done something wrong, it’ll play on my conscience for the rest of the tournament.

“I’m a big believer in karma, and if you do something wrong, I feel like it’s going to come around and bite you at some point,” he said. “I obviously don’t try to do anything wrong out there, and play by the rules and do the right thing. I feel like I obviously did that those two drops.”

Lost in all this drama was a 65. It was a remarkable round considering his two tee shots.

“It would be nice to shoot 62 and not have two in the water, I guess,” McIlroy said.

Monahan hopes for deal with Saudis

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was short on details but overflowing with confidence Tuesday about the future of the PGA Tour, repairing the fractured landscape of golf and his ability to lead the way.

“I am the right person to lead us forward. I know that," Monahan said at The Players Championship. “I believe that in my heart, and I'm determined to do exactly that.”

Where it leads remains a mystery. Monahan said at the onset of his news conference – his first in nearly seven months – that while negotiations with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf are “accelerating,” they had to remain private.

“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential," he said.

What he offered was hope for a successful outcome with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which announced an agreement on June 6 to partner with the PGA Tour in a commercial investment venture eventually called PGA Tour Enterprises.

Now the only minority investor is Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of U.S. sports owner that agreed in January to pump up to $3 billion into golf. The initial investment of $1.5 billion includes a player-equity program to compensate players and give them ownership.

Monahan said SSG joined him on a January trip to Saudi Arabia to meet with with PIF leader Yasir Al-Rumayyan. PIF is funding LIV Golf, which lured away Masters champion Jon Rahm in December to join a roster that includes major champions Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau.

“I do believe that negotiating a deal with PIF is the best outcome,” Monahan said. “Obviously it has to be the right deal for both sides, like any situation or negotiation.”

Among the sticking points, which Monahan declined to discuss, is how to bring the players back together when so many of them defected from the PGA Tour to sign lucrative signing bonuses with a league that offers $20 million purses with no cut over 54 holes.

Most players believe LIV players should not be allowed back without some penalty. Rory McIlroy said last month there should be no punishment.

“However we end up, I think that we’re not going to be able to satisfy everyone, and that goes for both sides,” Monahan said. “But what we’re trying to do is to get to the best possible outcome again for the tour and for the game, and I do think that that’s achievable.”

Also left unsaid was how to integrate team golf that LIV promotes with the PGA Tour, one of the directives in the original June 6 agreement with the Saudis.

Meanwhile, golf marches on with divided tours.

“When you step back from it and you just look at where we are … with the game booming, becoming cooler, becoming more mainstream, it's truly global,” Monahan said. “There are a finite number of athletes, and this is a unique point in time where unification ultimately puts the sport in the best possible position to take advantage of this growth on a go-forward basis.”

Adding to the drama was Monahan taking a leave of absence in June, right after the Saudi deal was announced, because of a medical situation related to anxiety and lack of sleep. Because of the surprise nature of the deal – some players learned about it from social media – he spoke last summer about having to regain trust of the players.

When asked if anyone on the board – six player-directors, including Tiger Woods, or the independent directors – had asked for his resignation, Monahan said only there has been “good, spirited debate” among the board.

“But we are a united front,” he said.

Monahan now has a vote on the board, and he is the CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, which is a for-profit company that gives the tour a chance to invest in ways they never could under the tax-exempt model of PGA Tour Inc., which now runs the competition side of the tour.

Woods was appointed vice chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises. Under the June 6 agreement, Al-Rumayyan was to be the chairman. But that starts with a deal.

Monahan would not speculate on how important it was to do a deal with PIF and its seemingly endless supply of money to spend on LIV Golf. Nor would he contemplate how golf would look if a deal with PIF doesn't get done.

“I'm focused on moving the tour forward, moving our discussions forward, and I'm hopeful that we'll reach a successful outcome,” he said. “Both sides have to work together to reach that successful outcome, and if we can’t … we’ll continue to compete and be as strong a tour as we can possibly be, with a great new investor in SSG, with a lot of opportunity for that growth.”