Brown’s 64 Leads Players; Couples Slips to 73

Billy Ray Brown shot an eight-under-par 64, the best score of his five-year PGA Tour career, to take a three-shot lead Thursday after the first round of the $1.75-million Players Championship.

Fred Couples, playing in his seventh consecutive tournament, was unable to sustain the level of play that has made him the first American to gain the No. 1 position in the world rankings. His 73, despite birdies on all four par-five holes, was only the second round over par he has had this year.

“At the end, I felt rather tired,” Couples said. “A very inconsistent putting round, a very mediocre round.”

Brown’s birdie-birdie-birdie finish over the demanding closing holes of the TPC at Sawgrass enabled him to tie the course record Couples set in 1984.

On the par-five 16th, he drove under the lip of a fairway bunker, had to play out, then hit a wedge to within eight feet and made the putt. On the next hole, the signature par-three with an island green, he played a seven-iron to the middle of the green and made a 45-foot putt. A four-iron to within four feet on the final hole set up a third consecutive birdie.

Brown, who last year was ranked 178th on the tour in putting, used a new putter. He gave his previous one to a fan last weekend after a bad day in the Nestle Classic at Orlando.

“I just stuck it up into the stands and said, ‘Here, take it,’ ” Brown said. “Better that than throwing it in the water and getting fined.”

He made putts of eight, 45 and four feet on Nos. 16, 17 and 18. “I wasn’t hitting the ball that well, but over the last 12 or 15 holes the putter just took over,” Brown said.

Mark Brooks, who has finished third in his last two starts, Davis Love III, Australian Craig Parry, Phil Blackmar and Ed Humenik shared second at 67.

Tom Watson was in a group at 68 that included PGA champion John Daly, Nick Faldo of England, Bernhard Langer of Germany, Scott Simpson and Tom Purtzer.

The course was soft and yielding from overnight rain.

“Any time you have rain and good greens, the scores are going to be low,” Watson said.