PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.
That was before he stood on the 17th tee at The Players Championship with a gap wedge in his hand, and watched his shot bounce in front of the pin, land just behind the hole and spin back slightly into the cup.
McGirt holed a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th, and then hit a 5-iron to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 16th.
Though the tall, big-hitting American has been on a tear since winning the 2016 US Open, Johnson has never finished inside the top-25 in eight previous starts at TPC Sawgrass.
Defending champion Jason Day ran off two straight birdies after making the turn and was in the lead at 5 under, which for the former world No. 1 was a peculiar position.
After playing just 13 tournaments past year due to a foot injury, Poulter had 10 events this season to earn 218 FedEx Cup points or United States dollars 347,634 to remain fully exempt.
Day's prospects of creating history looked bright when he played his first 11 holes in five under par, but the 29-year-old Australian bogeyed three of his last four holes and had to settle for an opening 70.
He was playing in the same group as Rickie Fowler, the 2015 champion who also got off to a fast start until one bad shot - a really bad shot - on his 15th hole at the par-4 seventh. From the middle of the fairway, Fowler blocked it so badly to the right that it hit a cart path and went deep into the pines. And he 3-putted for double bogey.
American McGirt now holds a one-shot cushion over JB Holmes and Alex Noren (both 69) at 4-under with the afternoon wave underway at the $14.2m event.
Mourinho did not care about losing to Arsenal - he was smiling!
It was not a gamble , it was a simple decision based on common sense. 17 matches in seven weeks in April and May. He continued: "I think Arsene Wenger is not a small manager, he's a big manager".
Masters champion Sergio Garcia and world number one Dustin Johnson were among those with late tee times.
Brooks Koepka had a reasonable day and could have been better than his 74, except for putting his tee shot into the water on both par 3s on the back nine.
"If I have a good day tomorrow, I'll still be in good shape", Garcia said. "And it just depends where you want to get into trouble, obviously there's so much water here and there's no really easy recovery from the water".
He has played 26 rounds on the Players Stadium Course dating to his rookie season in 2008 and he has broken 70 only twice.
Phil Mickelson didn't bother playing a practice round because he's been playing this course since 1992, the year before Jordan Spieth was born.
Ace. On the iconic 17th hole of the Players Championship, Rickie Fowler managed to avoid becoming one of the many blooper reel approaches the hole has claimed.
"I was going to play it Tuesday. and I was just a little exhausted, so I just kind of took the day off", the 2007 champion told reporters.
"I was a little rusty out there, but I feel like I turned a 75 or a 76 into a 73, so it wasn't all bad", he said.
"I want to think that it's just kind of a fluke", Spieth said.
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