Players Championship: New names on the leaderboard ahead of Round 2 at TPC Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — It almost seemed like the PGA Tour's middle (and working) class had a reminder for its stars in the opening round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.

The message: Hey, we're not that bad either.

After the tour announced Tuesday that it will stage eight designated events with limited fields and no cuts starting in 2024, a plethora of players ranked outside the top 100 in the world were near the top of the leaderboard at the tour's flagship event.

In fact, if it weren't for Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, it might be difficult for anyone other than diehard golf fans to recognize players inside the top 10.

Chad Ramey, who is ranked No. 225 in the world, carded an 8-under 64 to grab the first-round lead at the Stadium Course. Canada's Taylor Pendrith, No. 114 in the world, is 3 shots back, along with Ben Griffin and Justin Suh, who are Nos. 78 and 102 in the Official World Golf Ranking, respectively.

Suh had three holes left to go on Thursday when play was suspended at 6:28 p.m. ET because of darkness.

Two years ago, Griffin was financing residential mortgages as a loan officer at a bank. The former North Carolina star was asked if he could have imagined competing in the Players back then.

What a flop shot from <a href=«https://twitter.com/bengriffingolf?ref_src=» https:>@BenGriffinGolf