THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND:GUESS WHO didn't read the script? Not for the first time, the opening round of the Players Championship – a wannabe major with the money and clout to more than imitate the real thing – gave us a player who threw all of the plots to the alligator-infested waters at Sawgrass as JB Holmes assumed the clubhouse lead with a carefully crafted, six-under-par 66.

Holmes, winless on tour this season and with a reputation as one of the long hitters on the US tour, contradicted his natural game by using the driver – his usual weapon of choice – just five times in a carefully plotted round on a day of surprisingly good scoring as players took advantage of soft greens.

Yet, for the trio of Irish players in the field, it was proving to be an extremely frustrating first round in the tournament with the richest prize fund on tour and pretensions to being golf’s fifth major.

Rory McIlroy, who claimed a breakthrough win on the US Tour by sensationally capturing the Quail Hollow Championship on Sunday last, was level par through 12 holes of his round, while Graeme McDowell and Pádraig Harrington were already involved in a battle to make the cut.

Harrington suffered bogeys at the second and the 11th, two par fives. At the latter he pushed his 235-yard approach into the water, and was struggling down the field on two over.

But he grabbed his first birdie of the day on the short 13th.

McDowell, meanwhile, birdied two of his opening four holes, only to give the shots back with a double-bogey seven on the 16th, his seventh, as the Irish players failed to gatecrash the birdie-fest.

Indeed, the European challenge – on a course where Sergio Garcia won in 2008 and Henrik Stenson claimed the Waterford Crystal last year – was led by England’s Luke Donald, who was in the group which shot five-under 67s. That included recent New Orleans winner Jason Bohn, Ben Crane and Heath Slocum in a leaderboard dominated by Americans.

US Masters champion Phil Mickelson, with the incentive of going ahead of Tiger Woods in the world rankings if he manages to win, opened with a two-under-par 70.

“I didn’t have it today, but I can still get right back in the tournament,” admitted Mickelson, adding: “Shooting 70 is not what you want, we came out in perfect conditions.”

Mickelson’s woes were mainly with the putter, taking 30 putts in his round.

And while Australian Robert Allenby was among the later starters and moved to seven under through 13 holes to assume the tournament lead out on the course, the big-hitting Holmes – who didn’t drop a shot – made the most of the favourable scoring conditions.

And he expressed surprise that people should be surprised at his capacity to play with irons and putter rather than the big stick.

“I mean, I’m on tour. I’m not that bad a player. I’m pretty good with my irons. I’m putting good this year.”

Holmes is in search of a first win of the season, having tied for third in the Los Angeles Open, finished second in the ATT pro-am at Pebble Beach and tied for 12th in the Honda Classic.

“The public always assumes that all you do is hit drivers, all I do is hit drivers . . . you don’t keep your card by hitting drivers out here all the time.

“So you’ve really got to work your way around,” said Holmes, who found 15 greens in regulation.

His 66 was his lowest score in 15 rounds at the TPC Sawgrass.

And with his gameplan giving him a strong start, Holmes doesn’t intend to revert to using the driver more frequently.

“Maybe with certain winds, maybe max it out, it may be seven,” he said about this week. “That would be the absolute most I would hit out here. There’s a lot of holes where I could, but it pinches up in the area where my ball lands, so it’s easier to hit a shorter club and you have a bigger fairway.

“I could take advantage on some holes, but it’s just so tight it doesn’t really make any sense.”

He added: “Why would I change anything? I shot six under. I’m going to back off and hit it in the fairway, how the course is supposed to be played.”

The infamous 17th hole found another victim, with England’s Greg Owen cruising along until he reached the island green. Three-under-par at that juncture, Owen hit two balls in the water en route to a quadruple bogey seven that left him steaming.