PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Steve Jones wasn't sure golf mattered much to him anymore until a fellow U.S. Open champion convinced him otherwise.

The 46-year-old Jones sought advice from Hale Irwin, who won his third U.S. Open when he was 45 and discovered he wanted to win again.

Jones, trying to return from tennis elbow surgery that sidelined him for much of the past two seasons, flashed his old form Thursday. He made seven birdies in a stretch of eight holes for an 8-under 64 and a one-shot lead after the opening round of The Players Championship.

A couple of weeks ago, the 1996 U.S. Open champion sought out Irwin in Phoenix and asked the Champions Tour star, "Why do you win so much?"

Irwin had a question of his own.

"Do you want to play?" he asked.

"And I said, 'Yeah, I do,'" Jones recalled.

Irwin then discussed the mental side of the game and told Jones not to be cowed by the younger, stronger, longer players.

"I get older. I get injured. It's tougher," Jones said. "And you have to ask yourself do you really want to do this anymore."

Apparently he did, outlasting them all in the first round.

Much of the talk at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass' Stadium Course was which of the PGA Tour's Big Four of Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els or Phil Mickelson would rise to the top.

"And along came Jones," the leader chuckled.

Jones did it much like he has in the past - with accurate irons and a putter that would not stop. Three of his birdies were inside of 2 feet, while the other four were rolled in from 50, 40, 12 and 10 feet.

Jones capped his round with a 10-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole to end up a shot ahead of Fred Funk, Zach Johnson and Lee Westwood, and two in front of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and J.L. Lewis.

"You know Jonesy can putt," Woods said.

Singh was the most successful of the Big Four, finishing three off the pace. Mickelson and Woods were six behind, and Els seven back.

All four, though, started quickly. Singh had birdies on four of his first six holes, and Mickelson began the same way. Woods was 2-under through four holes, while Els was 2-under through five.

None except Singh could maintain the pace.

Mickelson had a double-bogey 5 on the par-3 eighth, then closed with bogeys on three of his last four holes. He missed a 6-footer for par on No. 17's island green, then knocked a 4-wood into the water on the 18th hole for another bogey.

"Because I had so many chances to turn this into a great round and I didn't, that's what's disappointing," Mickelson said.

Woods thought he struck the ball well, but was just a bit off target because of mud problems. The soft conditions brought about by early week rain caused problems for Woods.

"I just tried to get by with some mud balls," he said.

Els was disappointed to be tied for 51st.

"I would have liked to have a little more out there today," he said.

Westwood wasn't surprised at the Big Four's early flop.

"Difficult golf course," he said. "You can't win on the first day. The course normally gets better as the week goes on. And that's why the better players come to the top of the leaderboard on Sunday."

Jones isn't sure if he'll be there, too, but he hopes the advice he got from Irwin will help carry him through the weekend.

"The main thing he wanted me to do is to be positive, don't be a complainer," Jones said.

His 64 was a shot off the course record and his lowest score in 17 rounds this year. Better yet, Jones says he had the same old feeling as when he won eight times on tour between 1988 and 1998.

"I've always felt close when I've played well or won," he said. "I've felt like something was going to happen soon.

"I don't know what's going to happen the next three days, but I felt like I had a good one in me. I was due."