TPC Sawgrass Endures Lightning, Rain at Players Championship, More in the Forecast

Nearly half the field completed the first round with Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Hoge sharing the lead with 6-under 66.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The first round of the Players Championship was delayed, started, delayed again and then suspended due to darkness. Welcome to what promises to be a long week at the TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour and its flagship tournament.

Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge managed to dodge enough raindrops and delays to complete their first rounds with 6-under-par 66s to take the clubhouse lead, with Kramer Hickok, Joaquin Neimann, Keith Mitchell and Anirban Lahiri following with 67.

Three more players finished with 4-under 68 before the horn blew at 6:36 p.m. ET. The first round will resume, weather-permitting, at 7:15 a.m. Friday. Second-round tee times would begin around 11 a.m.

“I’m not going to complain about the day or anything," Fleetwood said. “I’m just going to be happy with the 66."

The round was delayed by one hour to start and then after threatening weather moved into the area, was halted at 11 a.m. It didn’t resume until 3:14 p.m. after a 4-hour, 14-minute delay.

Fleetwood said he was “chuffed" by his play and for good reason. The Englishman, who was one of the best in the world and a star for Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup, has struggled for most of the past two years. He barely hung onto the 50th spot in the Official World Ranking following the Honda Classic to qualify for the Players.

Nearly half — 69 of the 144-player field — finished the round. Seventeen players had yet to tee off for their first round when play was suspended for the day. Defending champion Justin Thomas played two holes and was even par.

“I think it's pretty impressive that we were able to finish today, and yeah, I think it's going to be big to not wake up early tomorrow and try to rest a little bit," Niemann said. “I don't know, doesn't look good tomorrow, but yeah, hopefully we can play some holes tomorrow. That would be nice."