Four Tied for Players Lead

Tiger Woods and his dominant game took a detour in the first round of the Players Championship on Thursday at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

That cleared the way for Jay Haas, Rocco Mediate, Bob Tway and Skip Kendall to tie for the early lead at four-under-par 68.

Woods, coming off an 11-stroke victory at the Bay Hill Invitational for his third win in four tournaments this year, spent most of his morning playing from ankle-deep grass and rallied over the final few holes for a 72.

Stewart Cink, who played in the final group with Woods last week at Bay Hill, had a 69.

Heavy overnight showers drenched the TPC at Sawgrass, and afternoon thunderstorms finally suspended the first round with 68 players still on the course.

They were scheduled to complete the round this morning.

In all, only 21 of the 76 players who finished the first round broke par.