Ex-Gators, no Immelman at TPC

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Early at the 35th Players Championship there was plenty of news.

The biggest story was the illness that hit Trevor Immelman forcing him to withdraw before he teed off Thursday morning. The Masters champ may have just finally hit the wall after dealing with so much since winning at Augusta.

On Wednesday, he talked about all that comes with being The Masters champ.

“I think it was just going from such a huge high to coming down and then having to deal with everything that I had to deal with that I had no clue what to expect,” he said. “And then going out and playing again and not focusing when I was playing.

“I mean, I probably got 30 to 40 Masters flags arriving at my house every day. I never had to deal with that problem, not that it's a problem. Those are the little adjustments that I'm going to have to learn to deal with.”

Because Immelman withdrew, Dustin Johnson got into the field and was two-under through his first eight holes before making a bogey on 9.

Immelman was the only golfer to withdraw. Jason Gore played four holes and made a nine on the second before bagging it.