The China Mail - Villegas, Spaun and Glover share Players lead, McIlroy one back

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy was only one stroke adrift, sharing second with Australian Min Woo Lee and Americans Akshay Bhatia and Billy Horschel after 18 holes at TPC Sawgrass.

Spaun birdied all four par-five holes while back-nine starter Villegas birdied five of his first eight holes and Glover, the 2009 US Open champion, birdied the last four holes.

"Great finish," Glover said. "Any time you can birdie 16, 17 and 18 it's great because it's such a great finish and you can throw in 15 as well. Very pleased. I played nice and made putts."

Villegas, 43, became the first South American player to lead or share the lead after any round at the Players, thanks to some long-distance advice from coach Jose Campra.

"I hit the ball good," Villegas said. "I've not been hitting it great the last couple weeks. Had a long session with my coach yesterday morning from afar -- he's in Singapore right now so we grinded for about two hours on the phone -- and I felt a lot better."

Spaun fired a bogey-free round on a difficult day for leaders.

Darkness stopped play with American Max McGreevy facing a 16-foot birdie putt at the famed par-three 17th island hole to grab a share of the lead.

Second-ranked McIlroy, paired alongside top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and third-ranked Xander Schauffele, found only 4-of-14 fairways but was magical in rescuing pars and making birdies.

The Northern Ireland star opened with back-to-back birdies, reeled off four birdies in a row starting at the par-five ninth and closed with a birdie at 18 after finding pine straw off the tee.

"It was a bonus to get it up on the green and hole the putt was a lovely way to finish," McIlroy said.

"Didn't drive it the way I wanted to. Didn't hit it in as many fairways as I would have liked. With the greens being so receptive, you can get away with it a little bit.

"I'm not going to be able to get away with it for the rest of the week. Sort of rode my luck out there a little bit."

Two-time defending champion Scheffler shot 69 while Schauffele, last year's British Open and PGA Championship winner, opened on 72.

"I just wasn't able to score as well as I would have hoped," Scheffler said. "I feel OK about the round. I did some decent things out there and gave myself some chances."

- 'I can still compete' -

Glover closed with birdie putts from inside five feet at 15, inside three feet after a long chip at 16, 18 feet at 17 and seven feet at 18.

After a 10-year PGA win drought, Glover captured the 2021 John Deere Classic and added back-to-back wins at the 2023 Wyndham and St. Jude championships.

"Just don't want to be done at 45," Glover said. "I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45 and I don't want to stop any time soon."

American Chandler Phillips, who shot 68, became the first player with three eagles in one round. The back-nine starter eagled the 16th on a putt from just inside 38 feet, chipped in from the rough at the second from 71 feet and landed his second shot within four feet of the hole at 18.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth opened on 70 after a wild back nine, his opening holes. The American had a 53-foot eagle chip-in from a bunker at the par-five 11th, a 77-foot eagle chip-in from the rough at the par-five 16th plus two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.

D.Peng--ThChM