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| - Sergio Garcia's red-hot finish, capped by an 18-foot eagle at his final hole, propelled the Spaniard to the early first-round lead Thursday in the US PGA Tour Players Championship. Garcia, who won the Players in 2008 and lost in a playoff in 2015, picked up four strokes in his last three holes at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, rolling in a 16-foot birdie at the seventh and a 17-foot birdie at the eighth before draining his long eagle putt at No. 9. His seven-under 65 put him three clear of his nearest rivals in the clubhouse -- England's Matt Fitzpatrick and Canadian Corey Conners. "I've always said it, Valderrama and this course are some of my top favorite ones and for some reason it just kind of fits my eye," Garcia said. "I see what I want to do pretty much every hole and then it's a matter of doing it, but definitely I feel more comfortable and I've done well here. So all those things help." Garcia's closing eagle was his second of the day. He followed a birdie at the 15th -- his sixth hole -- with an nine-foot eagle at 16. He followed up his lone bogey of the day at the first with a birdie at the second. And after his bravura finish, he was 14-strokes in front of playing partner Rory McIlroy, the defending champion after his victory in 2019 thanks to the derailment of the 2020 edition by the coronavirus pandemic. McIlroy opened his round with a double-bogey six at the 10th, where he hit his tee shot into the bushes and had to take a penalty. After a three-putt bogey at 13, things got even worse with a quadruple-bogey at 18 -- where he hit two balls into the water and finally three-putted. "I mean, regardless if you take that 18th hole out it still wasn't a very good day," said McIlroy, who said he just wasn't playing well enough to overcome mistakes. "Very hard, especially when you're trying to figure it out as you go along on course, right?" he said. "You're trying to figure it out but you still know you're not really sure where the shots are coming from." Fitzpatrick was five-under through 10 holes thanks to three birdies and an eagle on the ninth. Three three-putts hurt his cause on the back nine, but Fitzpatrick said his biggest area of concern was his irons. "It was a bit hit and miss," Fitzpatrick said. "Played really well off the tee, drove the ball well. Not too keen on how I hit my irons and then obviously my short game was fantastic. "Putting wasn't good today but it's not something I'm too worried about." Conners was buoyed by a hole out from the fairway for eagle at the par-four 14th -- his fifth hole of the day. "It was an awesome shot, obviously," Conners said. "Had a really good number for a nine-iron, just a perfect solid shot with that club. Just right at it the hole way." He added three more birdies and one bogey to join Fitzpatrick on 68. England's Lee Westwood and American Tom Hoge were in the clubhouse on 69 with the afternoon starters still on the course. bb/js
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