Bhatia, Lee hold Players lead with McIlroy, Morikawa lurking
A pair of young rising stars emerged from the pack at TPC Sawgrass on Friday, but a veteran who started the day in 134th place made the most noise.
Akshay Bhatia and Min Woo Lee both fired 6-under 66s in prime scoring conditions to vault into a share of the 36-hole lead at The Players Championship. Their efforts were enough to put them one clear of J.J. Spaun and two ahead of a trio including Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa at 9-under.
That was the story from the morning, but Justin Thomas' record-tying attack on the iconic layout in the afternoon made the most noise of the day. The 2021 champion rebounded from a disastrous 6-over 78 on Thursday to tie Tom Hoge for the lowest round ever at TPC Sawgrass with a 10-under 62. That margin is also the biggest in back-to-back rounds in the history of The Players.
| PLACE | PLAYER | ROUND 2 SCORE | TOTAL TO PAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Min Woo Lee | 66 | -11 |
| T-1 | Akshay Bhatia | 66 | -11 |
| 3 | J.J. Spaun | 68 | -10 |
| T-4 | Rory McIlroy | 68 | -9 |
| T-4 | Collin Morikawa | 65 | -9 |
| T-4 | Alex Smalley | 67 | -9 |
| T-7 | Lucas Glover | 70 | -8 |
| T-7 | Will Zalatoris | 66 | -8 |
| T-9 | Tommy Fleetwood | 66 | -7 |
| T-9 | Jake Knapp | 68 | -7 |
| T-11 | Sepp Straka | 68 | -6 |
| T-11 | Jacob Bridgeman | 69 | -6 |
| T-11 | Emiliano Grillo | 70 | -6 |
| T-11 | Harris English | 66 | -6 |
| T-11 | Billy Horschel | 71 | -6 |
Thomas only needed par to break Hoge's mark after an electric birdie on the par-3 17th, but he found the water on the closing hole and was forced to get up-and-down for a bogey and post a 61. He climbed over 100 places on the leaderboard to sit just seven behind at 4-under.
"Yeah, that was one of the best rounds I've played, for sure," Thomas told ASAP Sports after the round. "I felt like I did an unbelievable job of just staying, keeping my eyes forward, keeping my blinders on, not looking backwards, forwards, anything like that. It was just, How can I put this ball in the fairway off the tee, and then how can I make birdie, and let's rinse and repeat. I putted the ball beautifully, too. Just one of those days."
Thomas' brilliance outshone Bhatia and Lee, but the dynamic young duo will enter the weekend sharing the lead in search of the biggest win of their respective careers. Bhatia highlighted that youth movement after the round.
"Yeah, it's really cool. Obviously we had probably the youngest group in PLAYERS history with me, Nick and Tommy. So it's pretty amazing how young golf is getting and how many young players there are," Bhatia said. "It's refreshing to see. I feel like we're kind of the next generation of the Rorys and Scotties and obviously Tiger's way up there, but I think it's really cool. For PGA TOUR U to do what they do and for all three of us to have different kind of paths to the PGA TOUR is really cool."
Before Bhatia can become the next generation of Rory, he's going to have to beat the real thing in the moment, with McIlroy in excellent position to win a second Players Championship. He fixed the driver issues that saw him hit just four fairways in Round 1, finding 11 en route to a 68.