The stars are out bright and early Thursday morning for the first round of the 2025 Players Championship. Featuring a full field of 144 players, the PGA Tour's flagship event has many of those big names playing alongside one another across the first two days at TPC Sawgrass. Follow Players Championship live leaderboard coverage during Round 1.

As first alternate at the 51st Players Championship, the 29-year-old PGA Tour rookie who has lived in Jacksonville area for five-and-a-half years assumed getting into the event on Thursday would be a long shot;