Golf: After hurtling through the field at breakneck speeds during the final round at Quail Hollow last weekend, Rory McIlroy's opening gambit at the Players Championship was a touch more pedestrian. The new darling of the US PGA Tour was stalled on level par with three to play, six adrift of the early pace set by clubhouse leader JB Holmes.
By no means out of contention at this stage - the 21-year-old claimed the title in Charlotte after just making the cut on the mark - McIlroy might have been hoping for better on an ideal day for shooting low numbers at Sawgrass.
On a course renowned as one of the toughest examinations on the pro circuit, well over half the field were on course to finish level par or better with receptive greens softened by recent heavy rainfall offering plenty of opportunities.
McIlroy got an early birdie on the card at the 11th (his second), but gave that back at the 18th when he drove into water. Another birdie arrived at the second but that was followed by a dropped shot at the next.
Padraig Harrington was also struggling to take full advantage of the benign conditions, the Dubliner lying one over with three to play after missing more than his fair share of birdie chances.
He was joined on that number by Graeme McDowell who was also among the later starters and had eight to play. McDowell found the lake at the 16th, his seventh, for a double-bogey seven that dropped him from two under to level par and he then became another to bogey the 18th.
Tiger Woods dug deep to avoid a repeat of his Quail Hollow horror show. Six days after the dreadful 79 which sent him crashing out by eight shots, Woods produced a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly and yet somehow was two under par after 13 holes.
That put him level with Masters champion Phil Mickelson, the man who could take his world number one spot if he finishes outside the top five.
Woods, inevitably, had more eyes on him when he tried to hit back from the worst performance of his entire career. His first shot did not bode well — a three wood that flew into the left-hand trees. But escaping with a par was a taste of things to come.
A poor approach to the long second did not cost him a shot either and nor did a shocking 190-yard three wood that popped up in the air off the seventh tee. With the same club he produced a wonderful shot into the heart of the green on the par-five ninth — this time it carried 270 yards — and he two-putted for his first birdie in 19 competitive holes.
Another came on the 558-yard 11th thanks to a chip to six feet, but there was still the dangerous finish to come — including, of course, the notorious island 17th.