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Sergio Garcia fired off a 7-under 65, capped off by a birdie-birdie-eagle finish for a two-shot lead over Brian Harman.
Garcia would pay close to $200 for every $100 bet should he finish Friday remaining as the round leader.
Harman and Matthew Fitzpatrick would each pay $800.
Bryson Dechambeau would pay out $1000 at BetOnline.
When darkness brought the first round to a halt — 21 players didn’t finish — there already were 13 scores of 80 or higher. That included Henrik Stenson with an 85, his highest score ever on the PGA Tour.
There were 22 scores of triple bogey or worse.
Garcia took eight shots to play his final three holes. Byeong Hun An took 11 shots on the par-3 17th hole.
The Spaniard feels comfortable on a course that causes anxiety even in good weather.
“For some reason, it just kind of fits my eye,” said Garcia, who won The Players in 2008 and has twice been runner-up. “I see what I want to do pretty much every hole, and then it’s a matter of doing it.”
2nd Round Leader
Sergio Garcia
+175
Matthew Fitzpatrick
+800
Brian Harman
+800
Bryson Dechambeau
+1000
Corey Conners
+1200
Shane Lowry
+1400
Will Zalatoris
+1700
Jordan Spieth
+2000
Lee Westwood
+2500
Patrick Reed
+3300
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
+3300
Collin Morikawa
+4000
Justin Thomas
+4000
Jason Day
+4000
Tom Hoge
+4000
Webb Simpson
+5000
Jason Kokrak
+5000
Denny McCarthy
+5000
Jon Rahm
+6600
Cameron Smith
+6600
Ryan Palmer
+6600
Keegan Bradley
+6600
Gary Woodland
+6600
Dustin Johnson
+8000
Viktor Hovland
+8000
Charley Hoffman
+8000
Billy Horschel
+10000
Sungjae Im
+10000
Emiliano Grillo
+10000
