Akshay Bhatia and Min Woo Lee co-lead The Players as Justin Thomas ties course record
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia shared the lead at The Players Championship going into a weekend with strong wind in the forecast and the potential for a wide-open chase. That includes Justin Thomas, the biggest surprise Friday.
Thomas opened with a 78 and was tied for 134th when he set the tournament record with 11 birdies. A bogey from the water on the 18th hole forced him to settle for a 10-under 62 to tie The Players record with Tom Hoge.
"Everything seems to happen in mysterious and weird ways,” Thomas said, unclear if he was speaking to his round or the very game of golf.
Lee made a sloppy bogey on his final hole at the par-5 ninth. Bhatia got creative with a wedge to make birdie on the ninth. Both had a 66 and were tied for the lead at 11-under 133.
Thomas was seven shots behind and not the least bit bothered by the deficit.
“I’m happy I have a tee time tomorrow,” Thomas said. “I was losing to everyone playing golf at one point.”
Thomas witnessed the only other 62 at the TPC Sawgrass because he was playing with Hoge that day in 2023. He forgot about that until he saw an image posted on the video board behind the 17th green of him and Hoge hugging.
From the right rough on the 18th, the plan was to punch it low under the trees to about 20 yards short of the green. But the thick grass grabbed his club and turned it left, and the ball raced through the fairway into the water.
Thomas took a penalty drop, hit a lob wedge to 2 feet for bogey and at least shared the mark.
He has had some wild swings in scores on consecutive days, recalling the 67-80 he had at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 Open.
“This one is a lot cooler,” he said.
Now comes the hard part. The TPC Sawgrass can be daunting in any conditions, but the 25 mph gusts expected Saturday — and the possibility of wind and rain Sunday — can make the Stadium Course a real thrill ride.
J.J. Spaun had a 68 and was one shot behind.
Rory McIlroy was at the top of the leaderboard during his morning round that featured six birdies in 11 holes, only for his momentum to stall. He had a pair of bogeys over the closing stretch, the last one on the par-5 ninth, for a 68 to finish two shots back.
“I think I hit more fairways in six holes today than I did in 18 yesterday,” McIlroy said. “Got it in play much better and then from there was able to give myself some opportunities and obviously make some birdies early. Couldn’t quite continue that on to the back nine, but it was much better off the tee.”
Collin Morikawa, the runner-up last week at Bay Hill who chipped in twice among his nine birdies in a round of 65, also was shots behind with Alex Smalley, who birdied two of his last three holes for a 67.
“I can’t say I drove it great and hit the ball amazing, but I really just took advantage of when I did hit good shots,” Morikawa said. “I putted really nicely. Also I didn’t try fighting it too much. I knew it wasn’t quite exactly how I was hitting it, and you just make due.”
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler had to settle for a 70 and was six shots behind, still very much in the mix considering he rallied from five behind on the final day last year.
The 36-hole cut fluctuated throughout the afternoon with some wild shifts and plenty of emotion. The cut was 1-under 143.
Golf Channel StaffXander Schauffele made it on the number, extending his cut streak to 59 on the PGA Tour, the longest active streak since Tiger Woods (142) from 1998 to 2005.
That required the PGA and Open champion hammering a hybrid onto the green at the ninth on his final hole and two-putting for birdie and a 71. That sounded like small consolation for Schauffele, who only returned last week from two months of letting a rib injury heal.
“Not hitting it close enough, to duffing chips, to missing every fairway, to hitting fairways, to missing greens. It’s pretty gross, to be completely honest,” he said. “So if I can eke out this cut, that would be nice. But the game feels pretty bad.”
Danny Walker also gets a weekend tee time after starting the week wondering if he would play at all. He didn’t get into the field until Thursday morning when Jason Day withdrew with an illness. One of 26 newcomers in the field, Walker three-putted the final hole to finish at 1 under and had to wait an hour to see if he would make it.
Among those missing the cut were Ludvig Åberg, who won the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines last month and is No. 5 in the world. He had five double bogeys over two rounds, three of them Friday.
Jordan Spieth had another wild ride, which included hitting one shot left-handed out of the pine straw well left of the fifth fairway. Spieth was on the cut line late in the day when he hit the island green at No. 17 and then drilled a drive down the 18th fairway, leading to birdie and a 71 that put him eight shots back.
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