JT ties TPC Sawgrass course record with 10-under 62

What a difference a day made for Justin Thomas at TPC Sawgrass.

After ballooning to a 6-over 78 in the opening round of the Players Championship, Thomas roasted the iconic venue with a 10-under 62 on Friday to match Tom Hoge's course record and fly up the leaderboard.

Thomas' 16-shot improvement is the biggest in back-to-back rounds in the event's history at TPC Sawgrass and marks the first time a player has made 11 birdies in a single round.

The 31-year-old admitted his mindset was key to rebounding and that he actually didn't feel that negative about his opening round.

"I was not worried or upset. I was obviously upset about my score. The score sucked. It was absolutely terrible in every way, shape, or form," Thomas said, according to ASAP Sports. "But it was a fluke. It was the worst driving and iron play I've had, I think, probably in a round in my career. In a year that I've been playing some pretty good golf, I would say throwing that out, it's an understatement."

The 2021 champion entered the day in 134th place and faced a 2.3% probability of making the cut, according to Jamie Kennedy of Golf Digest. He went to work early on, scoring birdies on his opening two holes and five on the front nine.

Four consecutive birdies on holes 11-14 set him up to threaten the course record, and he headed to the iconic par-3 17th having to play the final two holes in 1-under to beat Hoge's mark.

Thomas electrified the crowd by curling home an 18-footer to reach 11-under on his round. Unfortunately, his approach to the 18th would find water from the thick rough, essentially drowning his chances at holding the record alone - something he said he wasn't sure of at the time.

"I thought it was 62. I didn't know," Thomas said. "I just wanted to make another birdie, and then once I missed the fairway, birdie is kind of out of the question and then I was trying to hit something short of the green there and the rough grabbed the face enough to have it shoot out straight left, and with the momentum of that ball, it's obviously going in the water."

However, the tie was still in play with a slick up-and-down - and that's exactly what Thomas did, clipping a perfect pitch to a foot and tapping in for the bogey.

He moved up over 100 places on the leaderboard and now sits seven shots out of first place heading to the weekend.