-In the history of THE PLAYERS, the first round leader has gone on to win 11 times in 34 years.  The most recent being Phil Mickelson last year and Adam Scott in 2004.

-Experience clearly matters at THE PLAYERS.  Only two of the 15 first timers were able to shoot as low as 70.  And only three first timers have won this tournament. Jack Nicklaus won the first ever THE PLAYERS, so everyone was a first timer in 1974.  Hal Sutton in 1983 and Craig Perks in 2002 are the others.

-This year's opening round was much easier overall than last year, when the winds whipped up.  Average score this year 73.716 compared to 75.413 ayear ago.