Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
In a game that can defy logic, and on a course that can be perplexing, Day had a simple explanation for bouncing back from last year’s 81.
“I’m playing a lot better than I was last year,” he said.
The 28-year-old Australian was in such control that he putted for birdie on every hole. He made half of them, and his longest par putt was 30 inches,
It helped that there was hardly any wind on a steaming morning that made Sawgrass more vulnerable than usual.
The wind began to increase in the afternoon and it made a big difference. Of the 40 rounds in the 60s, 29 of those were in the morning. Boo Weekley had the low score in the afternoon at 66. The 40 rounds in the 60s and 78 rounds under par were the most for an opening round since 1993 at The Players.
“I don’t know what the guys were doing out there this morning, but I don’t think we saw the same golf course this afternoon,” Rory McIlroy said after a 72. “It was a little firmer, the wind got up a little bit and those guys made the course look awfully easy this morning.”
Day had only the fifth round of 63 at the Stadium Course in the 35 years of The Players Championship.
Shane Lowry became the first player to shoot 29 on the back nine. He was in the group at 65 that included Justin Rose and Bill Haas. Ernie Els, who just last month started the Masters with a six-putt quintuple bogey, ran off six birdies and an eagle to lead the group at 66.
Foxborough, Mass.
Gronkowski was selected for the cover of Madden NFL 17 on Thursday. At the same time, he’ll be appearing on the front of GQ magazine along with model Hailey Clauson.
Gronkowski said that just making it into the video game his rookie year was a thrill.
“Now, going into my seventh year and being on the cover, it’s surreal,” he said, rattling off the names of previous cover selections from memory. “You’re joining an elite category. Just joining that category, it’s something you’ll have the rest of your life.”
Gronkowski succeeds Odell Beckham Jr. on the video game cover. But while last year’s edition showed the New York Giants receiver making a one-handed catch, Madden 17 features a classic Gronk spike.
The GQ cover is another Gronkowski trademark: He’s partying it up, shirtless, with a bikini-wearing Clauson on his shoulders.
Gronkowski said he was healthy and ready to get back onto the football field and hoping to catch passes from Tom Brady for all 16 games this season. Brady has been suspended for the first four games as a result of last year’s “Deflategate” scandal, though the ultimate result is still in the courts.
Los Angeles
His lawyer, Robert Carey, said Hill died Wednesday of complications from surgery related to management of his injury.
Hill was 13 when he fractured his spine during a 2011 Pop Warner championship game in Laguna Hills, south of Los Angeles.
He claimed in a 2014 lawsuit against the youth league that he used a dangerous headfirst tackling technique promoted by his coaches.
Hill reached a settlement with Pop Warner in January. Carey says the case set an important legal precedent that will force national organizations to enforce rules all the way down to the community level.
Rome
After withdrawing from last week’s Madrid Open with lower back pain, Federer was just glad he was able to play two matches on the clay in Rome.
“It doesn’t matter how I played. (What is) important is that I didn’t have any setbacks and I was able to step on the tennis court and that I tried what I could with what I had,” said Federer, who defeated German teenager Alexander Zverev in straight sets on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Novak Djokovic and seven-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal set up an attractive quarterfinal at the Foro Italico.
Djokovic overcame a horrendous opening set in a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over 37th-ranked Thomaz Bellucci, and Nadal ground past Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4.
Rome
Williams posted a video Wednesday on Snapchat showing the salmon and rice dish she ordered for her Yorkshire Terrier at their hotel during the Italian Open.
Noting how good it looked, she tells the camera: “I ate a spoonful. Don’t judge me!”
Williams says the bite tasted weird, “a little bit like a house-cleaner thing,” but she ate it anyway.
She said within two hours, she had to run to the bathroom. She recovered in time to beat fellow American Christina McHale 7-6 (7), 6-1 in the third round Thursday.
The dog, Chip, appeared fine watching Williams from her player’s box.
Williams said of the doggy menu: “I don’t think it’s consumable for humans. They should have wrote that!”