Avid gamers Championship: Glover, Villegas lead box; McIlroy one stroke again

The Avid gamers Championship grew to become again the clock to the overdue 2000s on Thursday, with 2009 U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover and 2008 Excursion Championship winner Camilo Villegas main the sector at Sawgrass at -6, in conjunction with J.J. Spaun. Rory McIlroy, in conjunction with TGL stalwarts Min Woo Lee and Billy Horschel, stood one stroke again at -5, adopted by way of a whole cavalcade of avid gamers at -4.Glover paced the sector with an up-and-down spherical that ended spectacularly — 4 instantly birdies at the ultimate 4 holes — and will get a excellent leisure till his afternoon Friday tee time. “I deep down imagine I will be able to nonetheless compete out right here at 45,” he mentioned after his spherical, “and I do not need to prevent anytime quickly.”On the different finish of the leaderboard, some spectacular names grew to become in some less-than-impressive rankings. Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Thomas completed the day at +6, Max Homa at +7 and Viktor Hovland at an unsightly +8, a complete 80 strokes at the day. Maximum, understandably, declined to touch upon their rounds when they wrapped. Lucas Glover may just manage to pay for to seem cool on Thursday after taking the lead at The Avid gamers Championship. (David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs”The object about this position is, there may be all the time some in point of fact excellent rankings and all the time some in point of fact dangerous rankings,” Glover mentioned. “It is razor skinny. The margins are razor skinny right here, akin to mention Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a bit, you’ll make giant numbers in a rush.”A lot of unsatisfied avid gamers may just attest to that Thursday. Sawgrass’ famed Island Inexperienced claimed its proportion of sufferers, like Max Greyserman, who quadruple-bogeyed the opening:From T55 to T121 in a single gap.Max Greyserman makes a quadruple bogey 7 on No. 17. %.twitter.com/zYvaurLM7Q— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 13, 2025But most likely no person exemplified the up-and-down nature of The Avid gamers somewhat like Justin Thomas, who plummeted from an early tie for the lead all of the approach right down to the ground reaches of the leaderboard after going double-triple on 17 and 18:T1 ➡️ T56 in a three-hole span. Volatility early at TPC Sawgrass. %.twitter.com/gcHwkewOF8— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 13, 2025On the opposite finish of the “the rest can occur” spectrum, imagine Chandler Philips, who carded 3 eagles at the day en path to taking part in the 4 par-5s at a complete of -7. He completed the day at -4, capping off a spherical that marked the primary time a participant had 3 eagles on the Avid gamers since 1983. Protecting champion Scottie Scheffler stored himself within the combine with a four-birdie, one-bogey spherical of -3 that left him 3 strokes again of the leaders. Scheffler, McIlroy and Xander Schauffele (E) will tee off at 8:24 ET on Friday morning.