It was a frustrating day for the Irish contingent at the Players Championship as Rory McIlroy struggled off the tee, while Shane Lowry suffered a late implosion.
After Day 1, there is a five-way tie at the top of the leaderboard at Sawgrass, with Austria's Sepp Straka and the American quartet of Sahith Theegala, Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges and Austin Smotherman heading the field on five-under par.
Four are in the clubhouse on 67, while Smotherman, who recently tied-second alongside Lowry at the Cognizant Classic, had a 14ft birdie putt on the ninth - his final hole - before play was abruptly suspended in fading light.
They sit one stroke clear of the quintet of players, which includes 2021 champion Justin Thomas and his Ryder Cup teammates Russell Henley and Cameron Young.
Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Tony Finau are part of a high-powered group on three-under, two back from the lead.
Defending champion McIlroy carded just one birdie in his opening round and had persistent problems off the tee but battled his way to a two-over par 74 due to some impressive scrambling.
McIlroy had been forced to withdraw ahead of the third round of last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill after injuring his back in the gym early on Saturday.
The after-effects of that injury may well have dogged him on Thursday as he pulled tee shots left continually, incredibly so on a couple of holes, notably the 11th.
Wild tee shots were responsible for all three bogeys, McIlroy recording successive bogeys on the fourth and fifth after finding the left rough.
He bounced back with a birdie at the sixth - a hole notable for the trees overhanging the tee shot - unfurling his best shot of the day from a bunker left of the fairway, finding the heart of the green, with the ball spinning down to gimme range.
The 2019 and 2025 champion failed to record another birdie in his round, bogeying the par-5 11th after an impossibly wayward tee shot necessitated a lateral recovery shot from behind a cluster of trees.
McIlroy did navigate the closing holes well, narrowly missing a birdie chance on 17 and then expertly parring the treacherous 18th, getting up and down from short of the green.
Lowry had earlier torpedoed much good work on the opening day with a quadruple bogey on 18 after finding the water twice to fall to four-over par in one swoop.
Having recovered from a difficult couple of holes with a birdie on the signature 17th hole - where he famously hit a hole in one in the 2022 Players Championship - Lowry proceeded to drag his tee shot slightly left into the water at the perilous 18th.
Having found the heart of the fairway with his third, Lowry was far too aggressive with his approach, with the pin on the left side of the green. It dunked in the water left of the green, leaving a big number on the cards. He was unable to get up and down for even a triple bogey.
It had all been going so well an hour earlier.
Lowry was blemish-free in his opening 13 holes, notching birdies on the fourth after a fine approach and then on the par-5 11th. A decent birdie opportunity lipped on the 12th and he shaved the cup on the short 13th.
However, he was still well placed on the cusp of the top-10 before his trouble started. After finding the greenside bunker on 14, he was unable to save par after his downhill putt trickled past on the low side.
A double followed on the 15th when he missed the fairway and his approach plunged into a dense 'grass bunker' at the back of the green. His first effort to escape was fluffed and he made 6. He reached the green in two blows at the par-5 16th but a three-putt par followed.
He got back to even par after a superb tee shot at the famous island hole to get back to even par before disaster struck.
Earlier, Seamus Power had suffered his own wobble on his final hole, albeit the ninth en route to his round of 74.
The two-time PGA winner carded four birdies and four bogeys, the former coming at the 12th, 16th, second and third holes. However, a poor pitch to the par-5 ninth saw him finish with a double-bogey to slip back to two-over par.
Teeing off in the morning wave, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler carded an even par 72, as did five-time major champion and recent LIV returnee Brooks Koepka.
