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

The Gamers Championship became again the clock to the past due 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, together with J.J. Spaun. Rory McIlroy, together with TGL stalwarts Min Woo Lee and Billy Horschel, stood one stroke again at -5, adopted via a complete cavalcade of 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 just right relaxation till his afternoon Friday tee time. “I deep down consider I will nonetheless compete out right here at 45,” he stated after his spherical, “and I do not wish to forestall anytime quickly.”On the different finish of the leaderboard, some spectacular names became 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 unpleasant +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 comfy, he is main The Gamers. (David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures”The article about this position is, there may be all the time some truly just right rankings and all the time some truly dangerous rankings,” Glover stated. “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 be able to make large numbers in a rush.”Quite a lot of unsatisfied gamers may just attest to that Thursday. Sawgrass’ famed Island Inexperienced claimed its proportion of sufferers, like Max Greyserman, who quadruple-bogeyed the outlet: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 Gamers rather like Justin Thomas, who plummeted from an early tie for the lead the entire method all the way 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 “anything else can occur” spectrum, believe 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 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.