Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar among six tied for first round lead at The Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Calm conditions and a course in immaculate shape provided a stage for 38 golfers to shoot in the 60s  at the first day of The Players Championship. Among six players who shot 6-under 66, Dustin Johnson, the world's No. 1-ranked player, Webb Simpson, ranked No. 41 in the world, and 18th-ranked Alex Noren all shot opening round 6-under 66s to share the early lead. They were joined in the afternoon by Chesson Hadley, former Players champion Matt Kuchar and Patrick Cantlay

Temperatures at the Stadium Course were in the upper 70s and low 80s most of the morning and the breeze out of the east didn't impact the play.

"It's perfect. Fairways are perfect, greens are perfect, and if we read these greens right, the ball should go in the hole," Simpson said after his round. "It's fun to play golf courses that are this well-kept. Two weeks in a row for me, last week Quail Hollow was perfect for me, as well. It's fun to play golf courses like this, and it's also fun to play well on them."

Johnson, who has held the No. 1 ranking for 15 months, can lose his spot atop the rankings if one of four players wins here this week: Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose.

Among that quartet, Thomas shot 1-over 73 and Spieth struggled to a 3-over 75, while Rose, powered by an eagle on number 12, shot 4-under par, 68. Rahm plays in the afternoon.

"I feel like I got a good game plan around here," Johnson said. "I feel like I played it the same way most of the times I played it, other than I fade the ball instead of draw it -- but it still requires you to hit the same kind of shots off the tees. But I don't know, today I drove it well and hit some nice shots and rolled in a few putts. It adds up to a good score."

Defending champion Si Woo Kim shot the best opening round for a defending champion since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982 with a 5-under 67. No man has ever successfully defended the title at The Players.

The featured group of Rory McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth attracted the biggest crowds, although McIlroy suspected that the afternoon featured threesome of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler would garner even more attention.

"It was actually quieter out there than I thought it would be," McIlroy said. "It wasn't bad. It was a nice morning round. I didn't feel like there was any, any more atmosphere out there than there usually would have been. That might be a little bit different tomorrow afternoon. I'll take a look and see how the that group gets on this afternoon and see what that's like, but it was nice. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary."

A number of golfers said that they expected the playing conditions to be more difficult in the afternoon as the greens dry out and again Friday after some early low scores. While there were eight fewer players in the 60s in the afternoon than the 23 who broke 70 in the morning, a record 23 eagles were posted in the first round, most ever at The Players. 

"I think it's tomorrow and then in the weekend maybe greens will be more firm and faster. I think the weekend is more important," Kim said. 

At one point in the afternoon, Kuchar had it to 7-under par, but gave one back on the last hole.

"I don't know that anybody's overly comfortable here," Kuchar said. "I think it's such a good golf course, such a good test of golf, good shots are rewarded, bad shots are punished. You see a wide variety in scores out here. You see guys shoot 6-under and you see guys shoot 6-, 8-over. It's just, it's a great, great test of golf."