Rory Sabbatini and Phil Mickelson overcame extraordinarily strong winds at the TPC Sawgrass to shoot five-under-par 67s and share the first round lead at the Players Championship on Thursday.
With winds reaching up to 63 kilometres-per-hour, only 16 players broke par in the first round of the Players Championship.
Tiger Woods was without a birdie for the first time in four years and finished at three-over par 75.
Woods had only four birdie opportunities and three-putted three times to match his highest score at the Players Championship.
It was his first round without a birdie since the opening round of the 2003 Masters.
Starting on the back nine, Phil Mickelson birdied his first two holes.
After bogey the 14th, Mickelson birdied the 16th to reach that turn at two-under par.
He made three more birdies on the front nine and joined Rory Sabbatini at the top of the leaderboard at five 5-under par after rolling in a long birdie putt at the eighth hole.
Sabbatini, who has three US PGA Tour victories, was the only player among the early starters to reach six-under.
But he slipped back to five-under at the seventh when he drove into a greenside bunker.
Sabbatini shares lead with Mickelson
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