American John Mallinger and Swede Richard S. Johnson shared the clubhouse lead midway through the first round of the Players Championship on Thursday after making six under-par rounds of 66. World number one Tiger Woods was five shots off the lead after his putting let him down at TPC Sawgrass. Woods, who has not fared well on this course in the recent past never having broken 70 in his first round, had three bogeys, two birdies and an eagle on the par-five 16th - his seventh hole. The American missed eight birdie putts from close to 15 feet. Americans Jonathan Byrd, Scott Verplank and David Toms were all a shot off the lead at five-under, tied in second place along with Britain's Ian Poulter and South Africa's Retief Goosen. Indian Jeev Milkha Singh was four-under par after bogeying the final hole of his round, the par-five ninth. Britain's Luke Donald suffered a nightmare start when he shot a triple bogey eight on the par-five second after he got into trouble in the rough and needing six shots to reach the green. Donald recovered slightly to finish with a two-over 74. Maybin takes 3-shot lead In Italy, Britain's Gareth Maybin produced a stunning seven-under-par 64 to take a three-shot lead in the Italian Open first round on Thursday. The 28-year-old Northern Irish rookie holed out from 115 yards for an eagle two on the 13th and collected six birdies to head fellow Britons Richie Ramsay and Marcus Higley and French tour winners Raphael Jacquelin and Christian Cevaer. Maybin needed a mere seven-foot putt on the mammoth 507-yard par-four 18th to take his lead to three strokes and set up a chance of going one better than his playoff defeat by Richard Sterne in the South African Open early in the season. The long and difficult closing three holes at the Royal Park Roveri course caused several late changes on the leaderboard as Maybin's nearest challengers all dropped late shots there. Former US Amateur champion Ramsay, also a tour rookie, bogeyed the final two holes but still holds his best starting position to a full European Tour event. European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie had two double-bogeys in a round of 72 but his return was nine shots better than his last.
