Ben Crane reads his notes for the ninth green during the first round at The Players Championship Thursday. Crane carded a 65, good for a one-stroke lead.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — For 12 hours at The Players Championship, there was rarely a dull moment.

Tiger Woods opened the festivities by nearly hitting a tee shot in the water — on the adjacent fairway, no less — and his next shot into a bed of flowers that led to bogey. Two holes later, he sent a 7-iron high into the air and watched it plop down to earth 4 feet from the hole for an eagle.

Angel Cabrera began his day with a triple bogey and followed that with three straight birdies. Then after making back-to-back bogeys, he answered with an eagle. The Masters champion wound up with an even par that could hardly be called conventional.

David Toms couldn't do anything wrong, making eight birdies in 11 holes. Just like that, he couldn't do anything right, finishing with three bogeys over his final four holes and offering this conclusion: "I'm just glad to get off the course."

Brian Gay took six shots from 55 feet to get his ball in the hole at No. 4 so he could put a quintuple-bogey 9 on his card.

Anthony Kim made a double bogey by putting a tee shot into the water on No. 13, then made double bogey by playing down the entire right side of the 14th fairway. His round ended at the par-5 ninth, where he chunked a chip into the mounds, then chipped in for birdie. So flustered at the end of his day, he dodged a group of reporters by climbing a TV platform and leaping down through the bushes.

Through so much activity, Ben Crane motored his way around the TPC Sawgrass with nary an incident.

Nine birdies. A couple of harmless bogeys.

"I'm going to try to keep it simple here," he said.

Simple for Crane meant a 7-under 65 Thursday afternoon that gave him a one-shot lead, and a chance to build on that when he returns to the Stadium Course this morning, when the conditions are at their most calm.