How did Justin Thomas follow his record-tying round at The Players Championship? Here's how

What a difference a day makes.

Justin Thomas finished the third round of the 2025 Players Championship on a windy, blustery day by going 1-over par a day after tying the course record of 10-under. He's now at 3-under overall heading into the final day of the tournament.

It seemed as though he would pick up Saturday where he left off Friday after birdieing the first hole. He knocked his second shot within a foot of the cup before knocking in the birdie.

However, he didn't feel as though the momentum of the day's previous feat was carrying over.

"It was a totally different day today. The conditions were very difficult ands really just have to take each hole and each shot for what it’s worth," Thomas said Saturday following his round. "When it’s windy like this, the ball can go to some weird places. It’s Sawgrass, and even moreso when it’s this windy, because it’s hard to control it. I really feel like I’m playing really good golf, so I’m just trying to keep my head down and try to execute as much as I can or as well as I can."

Winds Saturday were consistently between 15-20 mph, with 30 mph gusts, a major shift from the calm, cool conditions on Thursday and Friday.

Thomas' second hole started out much more ominous than his first as he went wide left into a wooded area. However, a low line drive into the middle of the fairway helped him save par for the hole.

He went on to par holes 2 through 5, but bogeyed No. 6 after missing a 10-foot putt.

He also bogeyed 8, but got a birdie on 9 to finish the first half of the day even.

On the back 9, Thomas bogeyed 11, 14 and 16 before making a birdie on the par-3 hole No. 17.

On Friday, when Thomas had his record-tying round, the cup was near the front of the island green at 17. On Saturday, the hole had been moved toward the back, some 16 yards, or 48 feet from where it was the prior day.

It made no difference as Thomas birdied it both days.

"It’s totally different. That pin (Friday) on 17 is as easy as it’s going to get. It was difficult (Saturday), especially being that down wind, you have to really control your distance and spin trajectory and everything, but I was fortunate. I had a very similar number on 15 that I hit a good shot, so I was able to use that as a little bit of feedback."

Thomas then birdied 18 to finish 1-over for the day, and 3-under for the tournament. When his round was completed, he was 9 shots behind the leader, JJ Spaun, who had only finished half of his round at that time.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Justin Thomas follows record-tying Players round with 1-over on windy day

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