Ramey grabs first-round lead at Players as McIlroy struggles

MIAMI: American Chad Ramey, ranked 225th in the world, grabbed a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Players Championship while world No.3 Rory McIlroy toiled in the rough at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.

Journeyman Ramey, playing in the tournament for the first time, shot a bogey-free 8-under par round of 64 to earn a one shot lead over compatriot 2021 British Open winner Collin Morikawa.

This is the first Players Championship taking place without the golfers who quit the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Last year’s top three are all missing — winner, Australian Cameron Smith, who lives near the course, along with 2022 runner-up Anirban Lahiri and third-placed Paul Casey while former winners Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia were also among the LIV absences.

The reduced star power was further emphasized by the absence of two-times winner Tiger Woods, who is playing a limited schedule as he tries to manage the workload on his struggling body.

Canada’s Taylor Pendrith shot 67 and was three strokes behind Ramey along with Americans Ben Griffin and Justin Suh on a day in which the big names, playing in the afternoon, struggled to match the early scores.

Scottie Scheffler, ranked second in the world, was in a group of players on 4-under while the current top ranked player, Spaniard Jon Rahm was 1-under after shooting two birdies and bogeying his penultimate hole, the 8th.

McIlroy struggled after making a double bogey on the first hole and he made three more bogeys to card a 4-over 76.

The 30-year-old Ramey has one win on the PGA Tour, in a weak field at Puntacana in March last year, after working his way up from the lower-tier tours.

He said looking at the leaderboard gave him the belief that,