PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — The talk of the first two rounds of the Players Championship this week has been about how gentle the conditions were at the usually diabolical Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
As second-round play ended Friday evening, there were a lot of sub-par numbers on the scoreboard.
Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia share the lead at the halfway mark at 11-under par after both shot 6-under-par 66s on Friday.
J.J. Spaun, after a second-round 68, is one shot back at 10-under par.
Then come two multiple major championship winners, Rory McIlroy, ranked No. 2 in the world, and Collin Morikawa, ranked No. 4, and Alex Smalley, all at 9-under par.
Will Zalatoris and Lucas Glover are 8-under, followed by Tommy Fleetwood and Jake Knapp at 7-under par.
While the getting was good for the first two days and low scores very attainable with the greens soft and the wind down, that all figures to change on the weekend with gusty winds in the forecast.
The winds are forecast for Saturday and Sunday to be blowing 15-25 miles per hour with higher gusts likely. And the players are bracing for it.
“It will be tough,” Lee said. “We got the text message [Friday] from the Tour saying that they’re going to adjust the course to [the wind]. It’s a tough course even without wind, and it’s intimidating.
“There will be holes where obviously it will be downwind and some that are into, so there’s going to be holes that could be easier, but holes that could be a lot harder.”
Said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who’s 5-under par and in contention: “It’s going to be pretty challenging this weekend. The golf course was definitely gettable the first two days.”
That gravy train ended after Friday’s round.
“Clearly, with the wind it’s a completely different test,” Fleetwood said. “It makes controlling your ball off the tee even more important than it normally is and just giving yourself the chance to control your golf ball and trying to be kind of relentless and patient out there and just keep hitting shots really. Whatever the challenge is, I’m just looking forward to it.”
So, too, is McIlroy, who believes the more difficult conditions can be an opportunity to make a move.
“I’m looking forward to it,’’ McIlroy said. “I think it’s going to be really important to try to flight your ball and keep it under the tree line. I think once it gets above the tree line here it can start to really get hit by it. This course is challenging enough, but with a wind like that, yeah, I’m excited for that challenge.’’
Billy Horschel, who’s 6-under par, said he expects “one hell of a challenge’’ from the course over the weekend with the wind.
“You always want it to be tough, but when you start getting wind conditions like that, quality golf shots don’t always turn out well,” Horschel said. “It’s one of those days of acceptance and understanding that you’re going to hit some good shots that turn out well and some bad shots that turn out in some really bad spots.”
Justin Thomas has had the wildest ride of the tournament to date.
He was 8-over par through his first 16 holes in Thursday’s opening round, which ended in a 78 and had him tied for 134th entering Friday.
Thomas then went scorched earth in the second round, shooting a 10-under-par 62 to set a tournament record with 11 birdies.
And that 62, which tied the course record held by Tom Hoge, included a bogey on the 18th hole, where he punched his second shot into the water.
Interestingly, Thomas was paired with Hoge in 2023 when he shot that 62.
With birdies on the final two holes of his first round and the 11 in the second round, Thomas has birdied 13 of his past 20 holes and is 12-under par in that span.
He moved from tied for 134th to tie for 29th entering the weekend at 4- under par.
Thomas called it “one of the best rounds I’ve played, for sure,” and added that he was “obviously upset about my score” on Thursday.
“The score sucked,” Thomas said of the 78. “It was absolutely terrible in every way, shape or form.”
Then, asked about the challenge of the impending windy weather over the weekend, Thomas said, “I’m just happy to be playing, dude. I got too excited early in the week when I saw that [wind in the forecast] because I love playing in those conditions.
“You’ve got to be creative, and it’s just tough. But I was far from thinking about that yesterday or last night.”
