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No Scottie or Rory at the top of the leaderboard, but still a lot to discuss from a busy and entertaining day at TPC Sawgrass …

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – There are few things more enjoyable in golf than watching Justin Thomas maneuver his way around TPC Sawgrass. The two are a perfect marriage. Thomas, when he’s right, is the ultimate shotmaker. He works it both ways, manipulates trajectories and varies his spin better than anyone. Windy conditions only seem to amplify his creativity. He’s a feel player, through and through, and that’s exactly what TPC Sawgrass demands, particularly on a gusty, rainy day like Thursday. But the last time we saw Thomas, he had zero feel. He shot 14 over over two rounds at Bay Hill and left early, mad and sad about his first start since undergoing back surgery last fall. "Humiliating," as he called it.

What would win out this week? That was the tantalizing push-and-pull that got me out of the media center and onto the course. It took me all of two shots to find out. Thomas’ first tee ball was a tidy draw, exactly the shot shape needed on the dogleg 10th hole. His approach was a baby cut that landed just short of the pin and nearly spun in thanks to the left-to-right spin he put on the ball – resulting in a tap-in birdie.

The next few holes provided more validation. He got up and down from the bunker on the par-5 11th for another birdie, showing off his short game. At the 12th, Thomas positioned himself perfectly off the tee, spun a wedge to 6 feet and confidently rolled in the putt to go 3 under through as many holes. He fought off mid-round adversity with bogeys at Nos. 17 and 18, playing mistake-free from there and adding three more birdies on his incoming nine to shoot 68, one back of the overnight leaders. Playing with two of the top-three golfers in the world, Thomas beat Scottie Scheffler by four strokes and Tommy Fleetwood by one.

“It's just a place like visually, it just fits my eye,” Thomas said.

He needed that this week. He spent all of Bay Hill overanalyzing, but TPC Sawgrass requires a different approach. It forces you to play golf, not golf swing, and it demands an active mind on every hole. There’s no shot that can be done on autopilot, a mode he felt he slipped into too often a week ago. The result is true progress and a return of the TPC Sawgrass Savant.

Playing through

• 🚫 Collin Morikawa’s back flared up on the second hole early Thursday morning, leading to a surprise withdrawal.
• ⛳ How did the 17th hole play? Spoiler: It wasn’t easy.
• 🎬 We’ve got a five-way tie for the lead. Here are the full highlights to get you caught up …

Rusty Rory

The best way I can describe Rory McIlroy’s first-round 74 is that he looked 10 percent off. Nothing looked incredibly sharp, though nothing was particularly problematic either. That much feels like a win, considering he had not even set foot on the property with 24 hours to go until his Thursday tee time as he recovered from a back injury he suffered ahead of last Saturday. Everything just seemed a bit harder. Even McIlroy acknowledged he felt a weird amount of rust considering it had only been six days since his last competitive round. But between those rounds, McIlroy hit about 30 shots total and played zero holes of practice.

Thus, understandably, everything seemed 10 percent less sharp. Approaches had just a little too much tail on them, chip shots weren’t rolling out to their typical kick-in distance, and every putt seemed to burn the edge. It had all the qualities you’d expect of a guy who barely walked for the last week in hopes his back spasms would calm in time for his title defense. They have, for now.

McIlroy said he felt fine overall and didn’t notice much discomfort besides a few shots below his feet that required him to bend a bit extra. He’s hoping he feels similar, if not better, tomorrow. But back injuries are fickle.

Importantly, at least for those of us who want to see him make a move, he doesn’t believe he’s too far back. He’s only seven shots back, which feels like a win given the lack of prep and generally uninspiring play.

“I don't feel like I'm that far away,” McIlroy said.

Parting shots

• 🏌Scottie Scheffler’s post-round range session was more revelatory than his actual round. The world No. 1 shot even-par 72, then spent hours afterward working in the pouring rain with coach Randy Smith to chase a feeling only he knows how to achieve and one that has eluded him too frequently the last month or so.
• 👏 I made an audible groan when Sahith Theegala snap-hooked his approach into the par-5 ninth and found, for my money, the worst spot to be on the entire property. To get on the green, Theegala had to hit a sand shot from a deep bunker, carry it over another bunker, and keep it low enough to get under the sagging Spanish moss. Once he did that, Theegala had about a 3-yard area that he could land it to kill the speed and let the ball release onto the green. Miraculously, he did it all and saved par. It’s the best shot I saw all day.
• ↕️ Max Homa’s first-round scorecard was a microcosm for his season: wildly sporadic. Homa opened with a hole-out eagle from the 10th fairway, which contributed to Thursday's $45,000 Morgan Stanley Eagles for Impact fund. (For every eagle or double eagle made during the tournament, Morgan Stanley is donating $5,000 to youth development organization The First Tee). Homa's next five holes from there: birdie, double bogey, par, bogey, double bogey. At one point, he fell to 3 over, before five birdies on his inward nine vaulted him to 1 under. I wrote about Homa’s current form and what initially caused his downturn.
• 🐀 Congrats to J.T. Poston, our "Range Rat of the Day." Poston hit 245 balls on Thursday, per TOURCAST Range. A reminder: You can see every shot from every player on the range this week.