Sergio Garcia is leading The Players Championship after a day that began quietly and then turned into a real card-wrecker. The lowest score in the morning was Garcia's 66. In the afternoon, when the wind got up and the greens became firmer, it rose to 69. The par 3 17th, the hole that is almost completely surrounded by water, created mayhem.

Ernie Els took 6 on the shortest hole on the Sawgrass course and said the hole should be blown up. "It has no place in a major championship" Els said. Tim Clark took a 6 there, too. It must be a South African thing because that is where Clark comes from as well. Justin Rose hit one ball into the water and took 5. Matt Kuchar ran up a 7. Paul Casey was seven over par approaching the 17th. He had had only one par and one birdie on the homeward nine. Surely the 17th would get him, too? To his credit Casey put his tee shot close enough to hole for a birdie, one of very few in the afternoon.

But even as one player after another totted up the wreckage on their cards there remained a feeling that, after the first day at least, this tournament is still not so much about who is here but who is not.

Colin Montgomerie is not here but it's not him. He hasn't qualified. Trevor Immelman, the Masters champion, is not here but it's not him either. He withdrew on the morning of the first round with stomach problems. Hunter Mahan, Jason Gore and Ryan Armour have all withdrawn too.

But THE player who is not here is, of course, Tiger Woods. Woods is recovering after an operation on his left knee. Even when he isn't here, he is the centre of attention. That was the headline on a newspaper article this week.

"I think when he is in the field, that's the first thing you look at on the scoreboard, on the leaderboard, is "what did Tiger shoot, where does he stand on the leaderboard?" Mickelson said. "When guys show up in the locker room, the first thing they do is look at the leaderboard and see where he is and he is usually at the top."

Mickelson, the defending champion, is well placed. He birdied the 17th on his way to a 70. He started at just after 8.30, was in by lunchtime and able to rub his hands as he watched his fellow competitors struggling on one of the most difficult courses in the world the longer the afternoon wore on. It must have felt good and if he thought about it he was probably doubly grateful because on such a day he did not have Woods to worry about either.