Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. ? Slipping on a rain jacket under a cool, gray sky Thursday only enhanced the warm feelings Davis Love III has at The Players Championship.

Tiger Woods could have been anywhere, and his thoughts would not have strayed too far from an ailing father.

In an opening round of varied emotions, Love steered clear of trouble on the TPC at Sawgrass with seven birdies inside 10 feet for a 7-under 65, giving him a share of the lead with dinner partner Jim Furyk.

As Love navigated his way around the Stadium Course without a bogey in the morning, attention shifted to the parking lot when Woods showed up after a cross-country trip to California to visit his 74-year-old father, Earl Woods, who is battling cancer. Woods left Tuesday night not knowing if he would come back.

“He’s fighting as hard as he can,” Woods said. “It was good to see. At least he’s trying to hang in there, which is a very positive sign.”

Woods returned some 12 hours before his tee time, and his play was sporadic – five birdies, five bogeys and a 72 that left him seven shots behind.

Davis Love III tees off on the 15th hole. Love shot a 65 on Thursday at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

“It puts things in perspective real quick,” Woods said. “You hit a bad shot, and you want to get upset with yourself because you know you can hit better shots. But you know what? In the whole scheme of things, it’s just a golf shot.”

Love and Furyk had little reason to get upset.

Sawgrass was relatively tame without much wind and the occasional drizzle that softened the greens, and it showed in a series of good scores and a bunched leaderboard.

Bernhard Langer continued his mastery of the island-green 17th, the most terrifying par-3 in golf, with his 20th career birdie that carried him to a 67, along with Robert Allenby and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Vijay Singh was bogey-free in his round of 68 that left him tied with a group that included Jose Maria Olazabal, Ben Crane and Pebble Beach winner Arron Oberholser.

“The course is there,” Love said. “If you hit it in the fairways and putted, you were going to do well.”

Brad Faxon and Phil Mickelson opened with 70s. Mickelson had five birdies, but he dunked his tee shot on the 17th for double bogey, hit a tee shot in the water at No. 15 and scrambled for bogey.