Ponte Vedera Beach, Florida – Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia share a leading lead in the Players Championship, with strong winds in the forecast and potential for a broad chase.
Lee made a hasty bogey on the last hole of the par 9. Bhatia is a 23-year-old 36-hole leader/co-leader in player history, and his creativity is the wedge that makes birds make in ninth place. Both have 66ers and tied for a tie for a score below 133.
Justin Thomas competed with a record 10 times below 62 after Thursday’s 78.
Now is the difficult part. In any case, the TPC Sawgrass can be daunting, but the 30 mph gusts expected on Saturday – the wind and rain on Sunday could make the stadium a real thrill.
JJ Spaun has 68 shots, one shot behind.
Rory McIlroy was at the top of the rankings in the morning round with six birdies in 11 holes just to keep him stuck. He had a pair of bogeys at the closing ceremony, the last of the 9th rod, and scored 68 and finished two.
“I think I’ve had more fairways in six holes today than I did yesterday,” McIlroy said. “Make it play a lot better, and then from there you can give yourself some chances, obviously doing some birdies early on. Can’t go on completely in the last nine games, but it’s a better tee.”
Collin Morikawa, who finished second in Bay Hill last week, scored twice in his nine birdies twice in the 65 round, and also trailed twice, Alex Smalley shot 67 in two of the two of the two of the birds in his last three holes.
“I can’t say I drove it out a great ball and hit it, but I really just used it when I played well,” Morikava said. “I put it nicely. And, I haven’t tried much fights. I know it’s not exactly my hit and you just do it.”
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler had to settle for 70 shots, down six shots, and considering that he returned from five on the last day of last year, it was still very important.
Throughout the afternoon, the 36-hole cut fluctuated with some wild changes and plenty of emotions. The cuts are less than 143.
Xander Schauffele scored a record on this number, cutting it to the PGA Tour’s 59, the longest active winning streak since Tiger Woods (142) from 1998 to 2005.
This required the PGA and British Open champion to hammer the hybrid on the ninth hole in his last hole, while the Birds and the 71-year-old were twice. It sounds like Schauffele’s little comfort.
“It’s not hitting it close enough to make the chips, miss every fairway, hit the fairway, missing the green guy – to be honest, it’s really too rough,” he said. “So if I could knock out this cut, it would be great. But the game feels bad.”
Danny Walker will also be kicking off the weekend after the start of the week, wondering if he will play. He didn’t enter the venue until Thursday morning when Jason Day was evacuated and fell ill. Walker, one of 26 new immigrants in the field, pierced the final hole with three points to finish with one point and had to wait an hour to see if he would do it.
Among those who lack cuts is Ludvig Åberg, who won the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines last month, ranking fifth in the world. He had five double bogeys in two rounds, including three rounds on Friday.
Jordan Spieth had another wild ride, which included a shot with a left hand from the pine straw on the left of the fifth fairway. Spieth went live later that day when he hit the island green on Island 17 and then drilled a drive along the 18th fairway, causing the birdie and 71 to get him back eight shots.
The Associated Press information is used in this report.
