Players Championship 2015: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Thursday

The 2015 Players Championship player pool featured all the heavy hitters. Tiger Woods. Rory McIlroy. Phil Mickelson. Jordan Spieth.

So naturally, exactly zero top-10 players fill the leaderboard following Thursday's first round.

Hideki Matsuyama, Kevin Na, David Hearn and Charley Hoffman currently sit one clear of the field after turning in a five-under 67 at the TPC Sawgrass. Seven players are one behind the foursome at four under.

By far the most accomplished of the four, Matsuyama carded six birdies against one bogey despite struggles with his accuracy off the tee. He recovered beautifully to average 1.6 putts per green in regulation, knocking down a number of difficult birdies and par saves.

“I putted very well today. That was the difference," Matsuyama said through an interpreter, per Sam Kouvaris of News4Jax.com. "You’re right, especially if you don’t hit the fairway with your tee shot. (You've) just got to put it on the green somewhere and hope to make par."

The 23-year-old is coming off a fifth-place outing at the Masters Tournament, his best career outing at a major championship. 

A similar story could be written about Hoffman, who was in contention all weekend at Augusta National and is playing the best golf of his career. Hoffman began his day with an almost-flawless 31 on his front nine (he started on No. 10) before faltering in a big way on No. 1. A triple-bogey seven on the par-four hole nearly undid all the work he put in, but Hoffman was able to recover with three birdies down the stretch.

"I just got out of position off the tee, hit a tree, hit it over the green, left it short, hit it back over the green, sort of a fiasco there on 1," Hoffman said, per Steve DiMeglio of USA Today.

Na may have had the best overall day of any golfer. He hit 88.9 percent of his greens in regulation and was solid off the fairway, bogeying only one hole against six birdies for his 67. The 31-year-old South Korean is—surprise—coming off a 12th-place finish at Augusta, tying his best. 

Hearn, a 35-year-old Canadian who has never so much as set foot at Augusta, showed no signs of being afraid of the TPC stage. His putter was on point from the opening tee, helping him atone for a 50 percent rate off the tee. A bogey on No. 14 was the only thing that kept him from holding the lead alone.

Away from the leaderboard, the most high-profile names in the field are largely trying to fight their way into contention. 

Tiger Woods, making his first appearance since a 17th-place outing at the Masters, had a round of wild highs and lows. He looked great posting five birdies, striking the ball long (albeit inaccurately) before putting things away on the short grass.

He looked downright abysmal, however, when posting his two double bogeys and three bogeys. His overall score of 71 puts him in a position to miss the cut with a poor second round.

"Probably the highest score I could have shot today," Woods said, per DiMeglio. "I didn't get much out of that round. I hit the ball better than I than the score indicates, and I got a couple good breaks and never took advantage of them. "

The round was the first Woods has played since his breakup with skier Lindsey Vonn. He spoke to reporters earlier this week, indicating the breakup along with the anniversary of his father's death weighed on him coming into the tournament.

"This three-day window is really hard. I haven't slept," Woods said Tuesday, per Kyle Porter of CBS Sports. "These three days, May 3-5, it's just brutal on me. And then what happened on Sunday just adds to it."

Playing together with Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy could not have had more diametrically opposite days. McIlroy carried over the momentum from his match-play win last week to turn in a three-under 69. He carded only one bogey, mixing in an eagle on No. 18 and a pair of birdies for a steady round overall.

John Raoux/Associated Press

“I think anything in the 60s is a decent score today,” McIlroy said, per Ewan Murray of The Guardian. “Being able to limit your mistakes, that’s something that I need to do around this golf course. I’ve got off to a decent start doing that today.”

Spieth, meanwhile, will need a strong round Friday to ensure he'll even make the cut. He bogeyed his first two holes of the day, setting the tone for a poor 18 holes that have him outside the top 100 golfers. The world No. 2 hit only half of his greens in regulation, relying on his putter just to keep himself afloat.

"Just didn't quite trust it today until I was already too far behind the eight-ball," Spieth said, per Jason Sobel of ESPN.com. "Just a really, really poor day. I've got to find something to work on. Sometimes when you're hitting it really well, you just get tough breaks and you have a bad day. This wasn't one of those. I actually really need to find something on the range."

Day is tied with McIlroy at three under, which was the top score among the biggest names in the field. Phil Mickelson is tied with Woods at one over. A double bogey on No. 18 cost Adam Scott an otherwise fine day as he finished at even. And Bubba Watson is tied with a host of players at one under.    

Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia and Webb Simpson are among the other notables tied with McIlroy and Day.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.