PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Maggert withdrew from the Players last night due to the death of his older brother Barry, who died in a plane crash in Colorado.

According to the Carbondale (Colo.) Valley Journal, Barry Maggert, 55, died Thursday, when the plane he was piloting crashed in the mountains west of Denver. The Gilpin County Sheriff's office said Maggert and a 23-year-old passenger were bound for Boulder and the graduation of Maggert's son, Lee, when the crash happened. The unidentified passenger survived and called 911. Barry Maggert's twin sons Lee and Bryant are both 23 years old.

Jeff Maggert, who shot 72 in the first round of the Players, withdrew after learning of the tragedy Thursday night. Commissioner Tim Finchem released a statement offering condolences to Maggert and his family.

"This is obviously a tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Jeff and his family," Finchem said. "The PGA TOUR is here with any support we can offer the Maggerts during this difficult time."

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Whatever happened to Craig Perks? Well, the 2002 winner of the Players Championship is at this year's tournament. He just didn't bring his clubs, which is understandable since he announced his retirement after the 2007 season.

"I don't know that I needed to 'announce' it," said Perks. "I just wanted to walk away quietly, which is what I did."

At 41, Perks is beginning a career as a teacher. Also, he's doing some broadcasting this week on the world TV feed, and with "Live @ the 17." He's scheduled to drop in on the Golf Channel, too.

Last but not least, Perks attended the Champions Dinner. "I was honored and proud to be there, just as I was honored and proud to win this tournament," said Perks.  "I might have been a one-hit wonder, but nobody can take that away from me."

Alas, his 2002 triumph that included chip-ins on Nos. 16 and 18, Perks never won again on the PGA Tour. At the end of that season, he studied statistics and saw his name near the bottom in several categories.

"So, I made a complete overhaul of my swing," Perks said. "It didn't work.  Then I tried to go back to my old way, and wound up caught in between. I made one cut the last two years and was just awful. I felt like I was an embarrassment to the game, and maybe even a distraction to playing partners. I played a lot of practice rounds by myself, and hit a lot of balls at the corner of the range."

Perks is creating a performance institute in Broussard, La., near Lafayette, where he settled after completing college at Southwest Louisiana. That's a long way from his home in New Zealand, but he met wife Maureen while in school, and their two children are also quite content in Cajun Country.

Asked if he wants to be the next Butch Harmon--a world-class teacher who doubles as a TV analyst--Perks said that given the support he received from his family through tough times, "I'd rather be a world-class husband and father."

--Bob Verdi

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- On Wednesday afternoon at the Players, a TV crew was testing its audio by throwing ice cubes in the pond that surrounds the 17th green to mimic the sound of a golf ball plopping in the water. That audio got a workout during Thursday's opening round, when 20 balls found the pond, leading to a bunch of double bogeys, a couple triples and one quadruple-bogey 7. At just 148 yards, a wedge for most players, No. 17 could be had in the morning calm but caught up fast thanks to a gusty afternoon tailwind. In the end, 105 of 141 players hit the green and 22 made birdie, but more good rounds died at 17 than anywhere else. Here's how five pros played it on Thursday:

MATT KUCHAR
Score on 17: 7
First-round score: 78
When Kuchar stepped onto the 17th tee, the wind was blowing harder than it had all day. His tee shot landed just past the pin but took a giant leap into the pond. Hitting from the drop area (85 yards from the hole), Kuchar again flew the ball too far. Rinse and repeat. A second try from the drop area, his fifth shot, cleared the bulkhead fronting the green by two steps, setting up a two-putt for quad and 41 on his opening nine (he started on No. 10).

TIM CLARK
Score on 17: 6
First-round score: 77
One of the few players to hit 9-iron on 17, Clark liked his shot in the air, only to see it bounce once, twice, three times and dribble off the back and into the water. He nearly dumped his next shot, from the drop area, into the hazard. Big relief, but it didn't last long. Three putts from the front of the green led to a triple-bogey 6.

ERNIE ELS
Score on 17: 6
First-round score: 72
Els' triple on 17 was particularly tough to swallow because he played the first 16 holes in two under. With the wind gusting at his back, he tried to lay off a wedge, after putting his sand wedge back in the bag, but chunked it in the water short. He played from the drop area, skidding his next shot through the green and nearly into the pond again, then took three to hole out. The good news: He regrouped and birdied the difficult finishing hole to post an even-par round.

ANDRES ROMERO
Score on 17: 4
First-round score: 77
In Wednesday's practice round, Romero was horsing around behind 17 green, hitting flop shots and chipping up the walkway that leads onto the island. Little did Romero know he'd actually have to hit one of those shots on Thursday. His tee shot carried the green and rolled down the walkway into the rough. It didn't help that the path is surfaced in fast-running artificial turf; his ball might have stopped in real grass. After hitting a spectacular pitch off a downslope that released 15 feet by the hole, Romero two-putted for bogey. Disaster averted.

PHIL MICKELSON
Score on 17: 2
First-round score: 70
Playing in the calm morning conditions, Mickelson went back to his bag three times before settling on a wedge for his tee shot. It proved worth the extra strategizing, as Mickelson stuck his ball to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt. He bogeyed 18 but still finished  two under, four off Sergio Garcia's first-round lead.

TOP 5 SHOTS OF THE DAY ON 17:
Tommy Armour III: 17 inches (birdie)
Dean Wilson: 2 feet, 5 inches (birdie)
Paul Casey: 2 feet, 10 inches (birdie)
Johnson Wagner: 3 feet, 5 inches (par)
Phil Mickelson: 4 feet (birdie)

--Peter Morrice

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- New-look Stewart Cink shot a nifty, little 71 Thursday at the Players that included three birdies in his first four holes and a water ball on 17. With six top-10s in 10 events this year, Cink is third on the tour's money list and third in FedEx points, but it's something he did off the course that made heads turn during round one at TPC Sawgrass. Cink shaved his head.

"I've seen a lot of myself on TV this year and didn't like seeing the band of black going around the back of my head," Cink said. "I wanted to look 35, not 55. I don’t know if it's in or out, but it's in to me. There's no going back."

Cink said that, out of the blue, a company called Head Blade sent him a gadget. "It has a loop that fits around your finger and you just run your hand over your head," he said. "It gives you a smooth shave."

Cink said he wasn't embarrassed or disturbed that the company singled him out for the product. "Not at all," he said. "They sent it to my agent at the Masters, and I got it a week later."

After discussion with wife, Lisa, Cink used the razor for the first time a week ago. "It takes 10 minutes, including the lather," he laughed. As for his round, Cink said the "Cinkmeter reads adequate and not fulfilling of potential." His 71 leaves him tied for 23rd.

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The marquee pairing among the morning groups at TPC Sawgrass is the threesome of Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Rory Sabbatini. All three wowed the gallery by making birdie on the par-5 16th, before Mickelson got the fans into a frenzy by hitting his approach on the island-green 17th hole to four feet. He made the putt for birdie to get to two under through eight holes but couldn't keep the momentum going on 18, making bogey on his ninth hole of the day to finish his first half of the course at one under. (Stenson, who bogeyed 17 after his tee shot into the water, finished the front nine at one over, while Sabbatini was at even par).

Mickelson, the defending champ, is looking to become the first player to repeat as Players champion, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy. "The greens are faster and firmer, and because of that, the greens being so small, they're tough to hit," Lefty said in a pre-tournament interview. "They're two feet faster on the Stimpmeter than they were last year and because of the firmness the ball runs out a lot more on your approach shots, and it's difficult chipping."

Only four defending Players champions have finished in the top-10 the following year: Jack Nicklaus (T-5) in 1977; Mark McCumber (T-6) in 1989; Tom Kite (T-5) in 1990; and Adam Scott (T-8) in 2005. McCumber came the closest to repeating. He was two shots off the lead entering the final round, but shot 74 Sunday to finish four back of winner  Kite.

Meanwhile, Masters champion Trevor Immelman withdrew before his round because of an illness. Immelman said he woke up early in the morning with an upset stomach and vomiting and returned to his Orlando home to recover.

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Hey, tour players, what's in your wallet?

Ever wonder who on tour is generous with his money, and who's a little, as they say, short-armed when reaching for his wallet. This might help answer the question.

On Wednesday during the Players Championship, the PGA Tour conducts a closest-to-the-pin competition for tour caddies. It's a hilarious scene where players and caddies swap roles, the pros giving yardages, picking clubs and psyching up their guys, the caddies taking the swings. A fun little event, but two things make it noteworthy: First, the venue is the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, the famous island green, and second, the players are asked to drop their own cash into a kitty (a big plastic jar sitting on the tee).

Here's how it works, the pros play a normal practice round, but after they hit their shots on 17, they walk to a special tee set up for the caddies. That's when the roles reverse. It's also when the players are put on the spot to make a donation, this year to benefit the Bruce Edwards Foundation for ALS Research. The winning caddie used to get half the cash, but this year the tour put up a gift instead, an HP laptop valued at $1,750. As a surprise bonus, tour player Robert Garrigus said he'd add a 42-inch plasma TV for the winning shot.

Now, anyone who's ever played Sawgrass has felt the anticipation of playing No. 17. Once you clear the tree line on 16 and get your first glimpse of that little island, you can't take your eyes off the thing. Even if you're not playing in front of 5,000 fans and another gazillion on TV, your heart makes a beeline for your throat. The shot isn't much, anything from a 7-iron to a wedge, depending on wind (140 yards for pros; 128 for caddies), but there's no bailout. Short, long, left, right--all in the drink.

So who put up what? Let's start at the high end. The following players gave $100, the biggest number we know of: Ernie Els, Camilo Villegas, Tom Pernice, Ryuji Imada, Nathan Green and Kevin Stadler. At the other end, some players didn't put anything in the jar, including Fred Couples, Mark Calcavecchia, Retief Goosen, Charles Howell III and Zach Johnson ("I don't have my wallet"). To be fair, we're only naming players we saw donate (or not donate) or heard about from a reliable source, and only during part of the day; some caddies made donations, which they could have been doing for their players; some pros might be giving in other ways or at other times. Whatever the case, it was great tour-player watching.

Teacher Butch Harmon donated a hundred bucks and promised another hundred to any caddie in the group he was walking with who hit (and held) the green. None did. Bart Bryant was light on cash when he got to 17, so he slipped $10 in the pot but in a classy move sent someone back with 100 more. Sergio Garcia was playing with Villegas, and when Camilo produced a Ben Franklin, Sergio said, "That's for me and him" and left it at that. Here's a few more donations we're pretty sure about, although these players could've slipped an extra twenty by us: Vijay Singh ($40), Angel Cabrera ($25), Trevor Immelman ($20) and Stewart Cink ($20).

One player (hint: He almost won a major last year) said he didn't have any money on him, so he hit up one of his playing partners for $100. Then put $20 of it in the jar. We can only assume he later made good on the loan--or else cleared a smooth 80 bucks.

But enough about tour players. The winner of this year's closest-to-the-pin contest is Jeff Willett, Brian Bateman's caddie, who hit a shot to one foot, five inches. Willett's was by far the best of the day, including all those from tour players. Sure, there were plenty of skulls, chunks, yanks and shoves, even a few shanks, but lots of really good shots, too. Of the 117 caddies who participated, 63 found the water, most of them short (a few dismally so). Here's the rest of the top 5: Casey Kellogg (Imada's caddie) 6 feet, 5 inches; Todd Sunderland (D.J. Trahan) 7 feet, 10 inches; Kenny Tolles (George McNeil) 11 feet, 7 inches; and Don Donatello (Kevin Na) 14 feet, 7 inches.

With $5,436 raised for the Bruce Edwards Foundation, everyone seemed to go home happy, whether they gave a little or gave a lot. Or gave at the office.

--Peter Morrice

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- While stuck in traffic on my way to the TPC Sawgrass early Wednesday afternoon I caught a few minutes of the local ESPN Radio broadcast. One of the hosts asked the guest, a local golf broadcaster, who he thought the fans would miss more at The Players Championship this week: John Daly or Tiger Woods?

Neither of the tour's biggest names--biggest in one sense for Woods, another for Daly--is here this week, but both generally have large galleries and will be missed. Woods, of course, is rehabilitating his left knee after having surgery after the Masters and will not be playing at the TPC Sawgrass for the first time since he turned pro. Daly, on the other hand, is not at the Players because he's not playing well enough. And if the recent video of Daly playing without shirt and shoes is any indication, he's not really missing the PGA Tour.

Anyway, I took the question to 20 members of the gallery hanging around the grassy knoll next to the 17th hole as the caddies played their annual closest-to-the-pin competition Wednesday afternoon, and, although the sample is small, these fans miss Daly more. (Although, with full disclosure, the sample was skewed. Seven of the 13 who voted for Daly were holding cups of beer in various stages of capacity, including five, um, gentlemen, who shouted Daly loud enough to be heard in Jacksonville proper, some 20 miles away.)

So, yes, the Players gets underway tomorrow, without Daly and without Woods, but with just about every other member of the top 100 on the World Ranking. What they'll find at Sawgrass is a course that is fast and firm with greens running at 13 (13!) on the Stimpmeter. The temperatures Wednesday afternoon reached the upper 80s, and similar highs are expected the entire week.

"I don't anticipate the scores to be too good, to be honest," said Masters champ Trevor Immelman. "Right now the speed [of the greens] is perfect. It's the firmness that's going to be tough to handle if the breeze picks up."

Phil Mickelson won at 11 under a year ago. Don't be surprised if the winner is in single digits to par this week. Which is what the tour wanted when it moved the tournament from its traditional March slot to the second week in May last year. It didn't want to go on without Woods, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Without question, the happiest face around this Players Championship belongs to Greg Rita, a popular veteran caddie who showed up from his nearby home to visit many friends on the PGA Tour.

Rita, 52, hadn't been at a regular event for a year, because he had been working for Scott Hoch on the Champions Tour. Then in September, Rita collapsed and was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgery was performed Nov. 7, and he's endured it all since--radiation, chemotherapy, seizures, pneumonia, spinal tap.

"But this is the greatest therapy of all," said Rita, whose presence at the course brought things to a screeching halt as players, caddies and tour types dropped whatever they were doing to greet him with smiles and hugs.

Although Rita wears a scar around his head and has dropped some weight, he looked like a man who is up for the fight against cancer.

"I'm going to will this thing away," said Rita, who caddied for Curtis Strange's consecutive U.S. Open victories in 1988 and 1989 and was on the bag when John Daly won the 1995 British Open.

Besides his appearance at the Players, Rita got to hang out with many of his buddies a couple evenings ago when Paul Fusco, Steve Flesch's caddie, and wife Pam had some of the boys over to their house not far from where Rita and wife Kelley reside.

"A great night," said Greg, who undergoes physical rehab almost daily because, as he says, "my body has been torn up." Rita anxiously awaits his next MRI in June--"I pray it's clean"--and takes 40 pills a day, but he doesn't require any medicine to retain a goal he set when doctors delivered the bad news.

"Our son Nicolas is 3," said Rita, a serious Boston Red Sox fan. "When he turns 5, I'm taking him to Fenway Park."

--Bob Verdi

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- If slow play on tour was the talking point in last week's players meeting in Charlotte, then ADD sufferers will have a hard time watching the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Phil Mickelson recently played a practice round there, and made it sound like six-hour rounds will be the norm.

"It was funny watching some of the amateurs play," Mickelson said at his Players Championship news conference Tuesday. "I was getting ready to tee off, and this group in front of us, probably an 8-handicap player, hit a nice drive out there, 230, he hits it in the first cut of rough, not even the thick stuff but the first cut. They could not find it and he takes a hack at it with an iron, and it dribbles a foot. He hacks again and it dribbles a foot, until he finally picks up and puts it in the fairway."

Asked how long it took to play behind that group, Mickelson never gave a definitive answer. "Fortunately he kept dropping it in the fairway," Mickelson said. "He looked like Hogan hitting it from the middle of the fairway. We kept stepping on balls in the rough, and it wasn't anything nearly like what it will be. It wasn't overgrown like last year where they overgrew it and then cut it back. But that kikuya grabs the club so much that it's going to be an interesting test."

In those conditions, how does Phil Mickelson think Matt Lauer, Justin Timberlake, Tony Romo and contest winner John Atkinson, an 8-handicapper, will do in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge that will be played on the Friday before U.S. Open week begins? Armed with information from short-game coach Dave Pelz, Mickelson had devised an answer:

"The biggest area of difference is off the fairway," Mickelson said. "But it will be very interesting and comical to watch that challenge of trying to break 100. There's just no way that statistically (it will happen). You know, Pelz brought the ShotLink out to the World Amateur and had thousands of players and did all the statistical analysis on it. And a 10-handicap when they get moved back to tour-caliber-distance golf courses, just yardage alone, not counting greens or the rough, shoots 92, on average. It is what it is; that's the numbers.

"When you throw them on a 7,600-yard golf course, you don't even need rough; it's going to be in the 90s. You throw rough in there, you don't have the pin placements and the greens, it'll be 90 or 100. And when you throw in the pin placements and the greens, it's not even a fair challenge."

—-Tim Rosaforte

Tiger Woods saw his doctors in Utah on Wednesday for a two-week checkup on his surgically-repaired left knee.

"It went great," said Woods, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on April 15. "Everything is right on schedule."

Woods, 32, said he's ready to begin his rehabilitation, but he isn't sure when he will return to competition. Ideally, he would like to play in a tournament before the U.S. Open, June 12-15 at Torrey Pines Golf Course near San Diego, possibly two weeks earlier at the Memorial Tournament.

"The doctors said I should be able to play in 4 to 6 weeks after the surgery, but there are no guarantees about anything right now," said Woods. "I'm just going to work hard and do what they tell me to do."

Initially, Woods used crutches and wore a knee brace. The crutches are gone now, and he attended Game 5 of the Orlando Magic's Eastern Conference quarterfinals series against the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.

Despite a strong start this season--three wins, a second at the Masters and a fifth at Doral to lead the PGA Tour's money list by almost $2 million over No. 2 Phil Mickelson--Woods has been playing in pain and knew surgery was necessary.

"The knee has been bugging me for a while," he said. "The only decision was: do you miss the Masters or play in the Masters? I decided to play. Even if I had won, I still would have had the surgery."

--Mark Soltau