Mar 14, 2025, 08:22 PM ET
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.
Lee made a sloppy bogey on his final hole at the par-5 ninth. Bhatia, at 23 the youngest 36-hole leader/co-leader in Players history, 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.
After a 78 on Thursday, Justin Thomas vaulted into contention with a record-tying 10-under 62.
Now comes the hard part. TPC Sawgrass can be daunting in any conditions, but the 30 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 two 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 do.”
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 back 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.
Xander 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 British 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 returned only 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.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
