Golf: Allenby one clear mind away from golf's richest prize

FLORIDA: Joint first-round leader Robert Allenby certainly has the talent to win the US$9.5 million ($13.4 million) Players Championship, but his mind will determine whether he lifts the golf trophy on Monday.

The 38-year-old Victorian has gone nearly nine years without winning on the US PGA Tour, and the longer the drought goes on the more it plays on his mind. He has had no trouble winning in other parts of the world but simply wants to win too badly when he plays in the US - a recipe for failure in a game where you have to convince yourself that it doesn't really matter, while at the same time giving maximum effort.

"Obviously I'm on the right track and we'll see what happens in the next three days," Allenby said after a near-flawless round of six-under 66 in ideal conditions at the Sawgrass TPC.

"I hope I keep hitting it the way I'm hitting it. Tee-to-green I played really well. The two greens I missed I was only a foot off the green."

Allenby, who is in the process of filing for divorce after an 11-year marriage, put his personal distractions aside to make seven birdies.

Allenby and American JB Holmes shared the lead on 66 in the world's richest tournament on a day when conditions were so easy that even Tiger Woods broke par.

- AAP