Sawgrass

A fatal shooting near TPC Sawgrass meant spectators were delayed entering the course before day three of the Players Championship.

St Johns County Sheriff’s Office said two people were shot and killed at 22:30 local time on Friday, less than a mile from the course in Florida.

The suspect, who has been named as Christian Barrios, fled on to the course before being arrested in Nassau County at about 08:00 on Saturday after a car chase, according to police.

Sheriff Robert Hardwick said Barrios “made contact” with employees at TPC Sawgrass during his attempted escape.

“He picked up – we believe it was a radio that belonged to the PGA Tour, not one of our radios and we know he dropped it after that. Our canines used it as a scent when they came in there,” Hardwick said.

Gates at Sawgrass were due to open for fans at 07:30 but entry was delayed until 09:00, with the PGA citing “operational considerations” as the reason for their decision.

Third-round play at the PGA Tour’s flagship event began on time.

Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg led the tournament after two rounds having shot a nine-under-par 63 on Friday.

Rory McIlroy recovered sufficiently from a back injury to begin his defence of the Players Championship but he ended round one seven shots off the pace.

The world number two only arrived at TPC Sawgrass on the eve of the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament, having opted to stay at home for treatment on the injury that forced him to pull out of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

He showed no obvious signs of discomfort in crushing his opening drive 329 yards down the middle of the fairway, but he took 73 more shots for a two-over par total, with birdie putts on the 16th and 17th holes grazing the edge of the cup.

McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Sepp Straka is alongside three Americans setting the clubhouse pace on five under.

Austrian Straka chipped in for an eagle three on the par-five 16th in his bogey-free 67 to join Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges and Sahith Theegala atop the leaderboard.

“We were fortunate to play in the afternoon with hardly any wind and the greens a lot softer,” said Straka, referring to the heavy rain that doused the course earlier in the day.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood was among those playing in the worst of the weather. He briefly reached five under, after a run of eagle-birdie-birdie on Sawgrass’ notoriously difficult 16th, 17th and 18th holes. He called it a “complete bonus of a stretch” of holes.

Having started on the 10th, the world number three then birdied the second but a torrential downpour that halted play for around 25 minutes checked his momentum, and successive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes dropped him back into the pack.

He is in good company on three under, with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, Norwegian Viktor Hovland and American Xander Schauffele also enjoying solid starts.

The rain delay meant four players were unable to finish their opening rounds as the sun set and darkness fell. Among them is unheralded American Austin Smotherman, who will return on Friday morning to face a 15-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole – his 18th – to take the first-round lead.

In rapidly fading light, Smotherman hit his second shot on the par-five hole into the heart of the green, but while his playing partners opted to finish the hole, he decided to mark his ball and wait for the morning light.