Day Has Two Shot Lead in The Players Championship

One birdie led to two more before Jason Day even hit his stride, and his round kept getting better until the world's No. 1 player was in the record book and in the lead Thursday at The Players Championship.

He putted for birdie on every hole. His longest putt for par was 30 inches.

Day was as flawless as the morning conditions -- summer heat, surprising calm. When he blasted out of a tiny bunker within inches of the cup on his final hole, he had a 9-under 63, a two-shot lead and a fresh memory of the TPC Sawgrass.

His most recent round was an 81 last year to miss the cut. This year, he tied the course record.

"It just kept on building and building, this round, just one after another," Day said. "It just got better and better."

His opening day improved even more after he finished. The Stadium Course was so vulnerable, mainly because of receptive greens and no wind, that 29 players from the morning group shot in the 60s. A strong breeze finally arrived after Day was done, making it difficult for anyone to catch him.

"I don't know what the guys were doing out there this morning, but I don't think we saw the same golf course this afternoon," Rory McIlroy said after a 72. "It was a little firmer, the wind got up a little bit, and those guys made the course look awfully easy this morning."

Jordan Spieth couldn't say the same. He played with Day and couldn't keep up.

In his first tournament since losing a five-shot lead at the Masters, Spieth dropped three shots over his last five holes and labored to a 72. He ended with a double-bogey on the par-5 ninth; it took him five shots to get down from a bunker behind the green.

"I hit two fantastic shots," Spieth said, "and then not really sure after that."

Masters champion Danny Willett, rusty from a month of being home with a newborn son and a green jacket, opened with a 70.