Faldo on form

Montgomerie was given a friendly reception

Click here for the early leaderboard:

Nick Faldo was in joint fourth place after the first round of the Players Championship after producing an astonishing par four on the last hole for an opening round 68.

The British player's drive on the final hole finished so close to the lake down the left that he had to stand on wooden sleepers and punch the ball down the fairway.

His third shot then finished 25 feet from the flag, but although it was up a tier in the green and had two breaks in it he holed it.

Faldo finished tied with David Duval, behind world number two Phil Mickelson (eight under), Chris DiMarco (six under) and Scott Hoch (five under).

The British player, who turns 45 next week, said afterwards: "I hit some good shots and holed some good putts.

Westwood finished his round on three over

"It was tricky with the wind and I'm really pleased with that. You've just got to keep your head down and keep moving on.

"I'm just trying to play one shot at a time and really concentrate. Not leave myself in a muddle - as simple as that."

Defending champion and world number one Tiger Woods shot a 71.

Faldo had to complete his first round on Friday morning after a two-and-a-half hour rain delay on Thursday.

That did not affect those players who teed off in the morning on Thursday - with their number including Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Britain's Colin Montgomerie.

Both players settled for two under at the end of their first rounds although Harrington might have taken the clubhouse lead briefly but for a difficult 18th.

I just have to keep pushing myself to commit to shots, but I would love a confidence injection right now

Nick Faldo

Montgomerie, who was heckled at the Accenture Match Play event last month, said he was pleased with the reaction he had had from the gallery.

"The fans were very positive indeed. I'm glad to see that and there's no reason they shouldn't be.

"It was a very difficult day with the wind, but I really like this course. I'm very positive playing here."

After finishing his first round Harrington said: "I played nicely at the start and you do like to have a good start in the wind.

"It's nice to get a couple of shots in the bank because there are tougher holes to come.

"But I am struggling with my chipping. I had four chip shots today and I played them all abominably.

"That's the area of my game I need to improve."

The windy conditions at Sawgrass caused some big names to suffer.

Bernhard Langer and Lee Westwood each finished on three-over while South African Ernie Els finished his first round on four-over.

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First round leaderboard (US unless stated):

64 Phil Mickelson
66 Chris DiMarco
67 Scott Hoch
68 Nick Faldo (GB), David Duval
69 Robert Allenby (Aus), Jeff Sluman, Mark Calcavecchia, David Toms, Steve Lowery, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Brian Gay, Carl Paulson, David Gossett, Jerry Kelly, Steve Stricker
70 Colin Montgomerie (GB), Bob Estes, Joel Edwards, Tom Pernice, Padraig Harrington (Irl), David Peoples, Larry Mize, Mike Weir (Can), Sergio Garcia (Spa)

Selected others:

71 Retief Goosen (Rsa)
73 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spn), Paul Lawrie (GB), Tom Lehman
74 Mark O'Meara, Greg Norman, Jesper Parnevik (Swe)
75 Lee Westwood (GB), Bernhard Langer (Ger), Paul McGinley (Ire)
76 Ernie Els (SA)

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