The Players Championship 2015: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson chasing Hideki Matsuyama

At the start of the opening round on Thursday at The Players Championship, all the hype focused on the return of Tiger Woods and the power pairing of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. Those three big names, especially the two young guns at 1-2 in the world rankings, correctly made this one of the more anticipated Players. But by Thursday night, it was only world No. 1 Rory anywhere near the top of the leaderboard.

They’re all chasing Hideki Matsuyama, David Hearn, Kevin Na and Charley Hoffman, who posted 5-under rounds of 67. While Spieth and Rory get all the pub, Matsuyama is another young player that could pile up PGA Tour wins for the next couple decades. The 23-year-old phenom from Japan is probably a better ball striker than both McIlroy and Spieth, and has been on the first page of the leaderboard at majors several times in his early 20s.

Matsuyama is expected to push those two almost as much as they push each other -- the talent is overwhelming, he just needs to putt at a slightly above average, or even average level. He loses so many strokes up on the green green, but his tee-to-green game is so good that he’s one of the top ranked golfers in the world. Thursday’s round is the kind of number he’s capable of posting regularly, and he often has over the past year on tour. A bogey five on the first hole was his only blemish on the card. Expect Matsuyama to hang around the top of the board through the weekend.

Tiger never really could get his round in order and capped it with a double-bogey on the 18th to drop to 1-over. It was the exact same finish that Phil Mickelson posted just a group ahead. Both put drives in the immense lake that lines the entire left side of the fairway, and so they’ll go to bed with that final double bogey on their mind. Woods hit several wild tee balls to start his round, but held it together with the usual recoveries and kept his round at a respectable number. The 1-over 73 wasn’t too bad given the shots we saw and the grind it appeared to be out there, but he told Golf Channel afterwards that he thought it was the highest number he could have posted given the way he played. After that finishing double, Phil probably feels the same way.

Some highlights and a full account of Tiger’s opening round.

Tiger may have been the headline player but the headline group was the McIlroy-Spieth-Jason Day tee time in the morning. After going 58 holes last year at this event without dropping a shot, Spieth started his round bogey-bogey and never seemed in it. He’s been the hottest putter in the world over the last seven months, but he got nothing to drop on Thursday. That work on the green, combined with some sloppy short game shots, resulted in his highest score of the season -- a 3-over 75. While Spieth scuffled from start to finish, McIlroy cruised through Sawgrass with a clean card. An 8-iron from 203 yards! set up a short eagle putt that highlighted his round. Spieth was supposed to be the guy who didn’t fluctuate with bogeys and birdies dotted throughout his card on this unforgiving Pete Dye course. But McIlroy’s round was the one with 14 pars and he’s just two shots off the lead.

Tiger and Phil will be back on the course early Friday morning, while Rory and Spieth take center stage during the afternoon side of the draw. The course has been softer and the greens more receptive, but there was no moisture added Thursday so conditions could be more difficult in the second round. Here’s where everyone stands after one day at The Players: