For most of the past few months, Sergio GarcÍa has resembled that cartoon character who wanders around with a cloud over his head. Nothing seemed to be going right. From the time last July when he led the Open by three strokes after 54 holes, only to be pipped by Padraig Harrington in a play-off, there has seemed to be no respite in sight.

It came yesterday, however. The Spaniard lit up The Players Championship at Sawgrass with a round of 66, six under par, and for most of the day he held a two-stroke lead over Kenny Perry and Paul Goydos, the Americans. This was the GarcÍa of old, with lots of body language, smiles and winks, looking mischievous and seeming to be having fun on the course.

The reason for GarcÍa’s recent gloom has been his putting. Actually, it has always been likely to let him down, which is why so talented a striker of the ball has not won a major championship. It is just that for the past ten months it seems to have been more worrisome than ever, so bad that GarcÍa has used long putters and short putters. At the Accenture Match Play Championship, a World Golf Championships event, in February he even took two putters on to the course and did so in practice this week.

The same month, Stan Utley entered GarcÍa’s life. Utley, though only a journeyman player when he was a professional, is a much-respected short-game teacher and when he and GarcÍa worked together for two hours, the Spaniard said that he began to feel more confident immediately. “It’s good now,” GarcÍa said yesterday. “Now I have some rounds where I say, ‘I actually shot what I should have shot’ and not, ‘I shot this but should have been three or four shots better.’ ” Often when a player likes a course he plays well on it. (Or is it that when he plays well on a course he likes it?) GarcÍa, who finished second in this event last year, certainly likes Sawgrass, designed originally by Pete Dye, who has been elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

GarcÍa’s 66 was his third consecutive score in the 60s here after his 67 and 66 in the third and fourth rounds last year. He had 29 putts in all, one right across the 14th green, and as the ball disappeared into the hole GarcÍa shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

After a tournament in North Carolina in which he scored a remarkable number of birdies, but also a remarkable number of bogeys, Ian Poulter arrived wanting more of the former and fewer of the latter. He got his wish. A 69, three under par, was a tidy day’s golf and one stroke better than Phil Mickelson, the defending champion from the United States, and José MarÍa Olazábal, of Spain. Poulter had 17 birdies and an eagle in the 72 holes of the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte last week, yet finished only two under par. “That is insane,” the tall Englishman said.

Yesterday morning, when two mental errors led to dropped shots on the 3rd and 4th, his twelfth and thirteenth, he gave himself a talking-to. As he walked to the 5th tee he said, “Don’t start doing that again”, referring to his erratic play the previous week. It worked. He calmed himself down and birdied two of his last three holes.

Poulter says that he generally plays well when he gets off to a good start, and he did so. He birdied the 11th, his second, and not long after arrived at the notorious 17th with the honour of playing before Ken Duke and Rich Beem, his playing partners. Poulter’s was the first shot on this hole at this year’s event and it was a good one. Hit with a pitching wedge, it ended about 17 feet from the flagstick.

It was the second year in succession that an Englishman was the first player to hit from this tee. In 2007, Paul Casey hit his ball into the water and took a six. He missed the cut. Not much chance of Poulter following suit.