PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.

Tiger Woods made birdie on every par 5 for the first time since 2006 and broke 70 in the opening round for the first time ever in The Players Championship. Rory McIlroy didn’t hit driver on the front nine and broke par for the first time on the TPC Sawgrass.

Ryan Palmer made only one cut in seven tries — the other year, he finished next-to-last — so he stayed home in Texas this time and didn’t show up until Wednesday. He ran off five straight birdies on his way to a 67.

After all these years, everyone keeps looking for the secret on how to play Sawgrass. And then along came Roberto Castro, who had never played this tournament. He didn’t know where to look and wound up in the record book twice.

In an opening round when everything went right, Castro had a 9-under 63 to tie the course record held by Fred Couples and Greg Norman. It gave him a three-shot lead over McIlroy and Zach Johnson, matching the record for the largest 18-hole margin set by Billy Ray Brown in 1992.

Welcome to Sawgrass.

“I hit it close a lot,” said Castro, making it sound as easy as it looked.

And it did look easy. Castro never had a birdie putt longer than 10 feet, and on four of his birdies, he never had to line up the putt. He hit a 9-iron to just outside a foot on the famed and fearsome island-green 17th hole. He hit 4-iron to about the same distance on the 18th hole, the toughest on the golf course. He also hit a 3-iron to about three feet on the par-5 second hole for an eagle.

For starters, it helped to be playing in the morning. The conditions were rarely so perfect, with a blue sky and not a trace of wind on a beautifully manicured golf course with smooth putting surfaces.

Castro, McIlroy and Johnson all played in the morning. Half of the field who teed off in the morning broke par.

That’s what made Woods feel good about his 67 in the afternoon, even though he lost a chance at his first bogey-free round in 16 appearances at The Players. His 8-iron from 200 yards on the final hole went long, and he flubbed his first chip up the slope and didn’t reach the green.

Even so, it was a hard day of work and he felt rewarded.

Here’s something else Woods rarely sees at Sawgrass — being nine shots behind before he even tees off.

Such was the case when Castro posted his 63, and it was particularly daunting considering that Woods had never shot in the 60s in the opening round.

Vijay Singh, playing one day after he sued the PGA Tour for its handling of his doping case, was largely ignored while playing in the group behind Woods. One fan wore felt deer antlers in the bleachers behind the first tee — Singh’s case involved taking deer antler spray.