On a day of low scoring, two distinct styles stand the tallest

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J.B. Holmes had a career-low 66 at TPC Sawgrass in the first round.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Phil Mickelson, by his own admission, didn't have it. Tiger Woods certainly had it much more than the last time we saw him, although he did find the water with his last tee shot, leading to his only bogey of the day.

Rory McIlroy didn't have it anywhere close to how he had it last week in Charlotte, but considering he was coming off a record-setting 62, this week's birthday boy can be excused for shooting 11 strokes higher.

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Meanwhile, Robert Allenby had it so much that he hit all but two greens in regulation -- and the two that he missed were by no more than a foot each.

J.B. Holmes also had it, despite not being able to lean on his biggest weapon, the driver.

In fact, Holmes and Allenby had it the most, shooting bookend 6-under 66s -- Holmes in the morning wave, Allenby in the afternoon -- to take the first-round lead at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Frankly, if you didn't have it on Thursday, if you didn't jump all over TPC Sawgrass and its favorable scoring conditions, then you missed a great opportunity to make some noise at a course that most expect will get tougher the rest of this week.

"Shooting 70 today isn't the round that you want," said Mickelson, who unfortunately for both him and Woods posted exactly that.

Indeed, Thursday's stroke average of 71.103 was the lowest first-round scoring average at THE PLAYERS since 1993. Of the 145 players teeing off Thursday, 103 posted par or better. With the rain earlier this week producing soft, receptive greens, and with no winds to speak of until a slight breeze picked up late in the day, the world's best players were able to attack Pete Dye's par-72 layout.

"The course conditions were ideal for scoring," said Englishman Luke Donald, one of eight players signing for 5-under 67s. "Obviously, hardly any wind, which is very unusual for this tournament. Greens are putting nicely, and the greens are holding, too, so I think it's kind of a recipe for some birdies."

But will it remain that way? Will birdies be in abundance this rest of this week? Mickelson expects the course to toughen up, and with the sub-air system at TPC Sawgrass, the moisture could certainly disappear in a hurry. He sees a progressively firmer and faster course in the next 54 holes.

Allenby, however, noted that the humidity may keep the greens relatively soft, and that harsher scoring conditions will be dictated simply by the winds.

Saturday's gusts may reach 20 mph, but there's also a slight chance of rain that day. The other two days will be mostly sunny with winds at 10-15 mph.

"If the wind stays down, I see the scoring pretty much the same every day," he said. "Obviously the factor of trying to win the tournament ... comes into play a little bit. But still, the greens at the moment are quite soft."

And that's why it didn't really matter what time you teed off Thursday. The ideal conditions lasted all day, with the afternoon group (71.04 stroke average) actually outscoring the morning wave (71.17).

Holmes teed off early, with Allenby teeing off more than five hours later. As much separation as they had in time, they also have in their games.

Holmes is one of the longest hitters on TOUR, while Allenby is a top ball-striker. TPC Sawgrass favors the ball-strikers, especially the second shots, which is why Allenby's presence atop the leaderboard should come as no surprise. Just two years ago, he ranked second on TOUR in greens in regulation and annually ranks among the best on TOUR in that category.

His best finish here came in 2003 when he tied for fourth during Davis Love's runaway victory, but he hasn't had a top-10 finish here since then. That hasn't dampened his enthusiasm for the course, though. It just seems like he's due to play well here.

"It sets up very well to my eye," he said. "You do have to be a good ball-striker, I believe, to win here. I think you've kind of got to look at the past champions and they're all good iron players, that's for sure."

The numbers wouldn't put Holmes in that category. In the previous five years, his best greens-in-regulation ranking was 104th in 2007. He came into this tournament ranked 162nd.

The Kentuckian makes his hay with his driver as one of the TOUR's biggest, baddest bashers. But on Thursday, he only pulled out the driver five times, realizing that his usual long drives were actually detrimental on a course where the holes pinch his landing zones. And the five was actually one more than his original plan going into this week.

"I'm going to back off and hit it in the fairway, how the course is supposed to be played," he said.

Of course, eyebrows are raised whenever one of the TOUR's heavy hitters finds success on a this kind of course. But perhaps we shouldn't view Holmes in that vein anymore. Perhaps he's just a pretty good player who happens to hit it a ton. And he says his iron game is actually better than his driving right now. At the Verizon Heritage, he didn't even put driver in his bag.

"The public always assumes that ... all I do is hit drivers," Holmes said. "You don't keep your card by hitting drivers out here all the time. So you've really got to work your way around."

Allenby certainly knows that Holmes is capable of much more than his reputation. Besides, Holmes' length does allow him to hit 3-wood when others need the big stick. Allenby, for instance, used driver on nine holes Thursday.

"This is a golf course of precision," he said. "Sure, there's some holes out there if you've got the length, that's great, and they're probably the five holes that he just unleashes that driver.

"But all the rest of the holes, he only needs to hit his 3-wood. He can still hit it 310 (yards). Poor people like me only hit it like 260."

Perhaps on Thursday, it didn't matter how many times you used driver. It only mattered how many times you were able to take advantage of the soft greens.

And if you didn't? Well, you've got some work to do the next three days.