The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass can certainly bare its teeth and many a PGA Tour pro has been humbled on the course during the Players Championship.

But guys have gone low there as well. There nine course-record 63s through the first 40 renditions of the tournament at TPC Sawgrass: Fred Couples was the first (third round, 1992), followed by Greg Norman (first round, 1994), Roberto Castro (first round, 2013), Martin Kaymer (first round, 2014), Jason Day (first round, 2016), Colt Knost (second round, 2016), Webb Simpson (second round, 2018), Brooks Koepka (final round, 2018) and Dustin Johnson (final round, 2022).

In 2023, Tom Hoge raised the stakes at the Tour’s flagship event when he recorded the first 62.

As it turns out, Hoge played that day with Justin Thomas.

Two years later, during the second round of the 2025 Players Championship, Thomas had 11 birdies through 17 holes and needed par at the last to break Hoge’s mark.

“I forgot about it until I saw up on the screen, I think on 17, Tom Hoge and I hugging, and I was like, ‘Wow, I forgot, he shot 62 when I played with him,'” Thomas said Friday.

One more birdie would’ve meant a 60. But it was not meant to be as Thomas hit his second into the lake and needed to hole out for par after a drop. He almost did, but nonetheless, he made bogey for his 10-under round.

Hoge recorded 10 birdies when he shot his 62. JT had one more in his round, which was 16 strokes better than the 78 he posted just one day prior.

Norman, Kaymer, Day and Simpson rode their 63s to a tournament victory. Hoge did not parlay his 62 into a win, as Scottie Scheffler won the 2023 Players. If Thomas is to win, he’ll need to rally from seven shots back. He’ll start the third round at 4 under, tied for 29th place.