As if two days of golf were not enough, the second round of The Players Championship 2024 officially concluded on Saturday, March 16. The first 36 holes at TPC Sawgrass left us with plenty of highlights and the promise of a very competitive weekend.
2023 U.S. Champion Wyndham Clark leads The Players Championship by four strokes after carding back-to-back rounds of 65, his lowest score for 36 holes on the PGA Tour and just one stroke off the event’s best mark of 15-under 129, held by Jason Day (2016) and Webb Simpson (2018).
Clark’s performance included eight birdies and one bogey in each of the first two rounds of The Players Championship. Let’s not forget that the player is coming off a runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week before and has already won one tournament this season (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). It was at Pebble Beach that he set a new course record (60) despite the terrible weather conditions that forced the event to be shortened to just three rounds.
Man of the hour on the PGA Tour and top-ranked golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, is among the top contenders for the title of at the first two rounds of The Players Championship. Scheffler is 8-under for the first 36 holes, with 11 birdies and three bogeys. Scheffler again has a positive putting record (0.253 strokes gained during the first two rounds and 1.79 putts per green in regulation), but has not been able to come close to the excellent performance that won him the title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
However, Scottie Scheffler has history against him as he is the defending champion of The Players Championship. No champion has ever successfully defended his title at this event. The best finish for a defending champion is T5 (Jack Nicklaus, 1977 – Tom Kite, 1990 – Hal Sutton, 2001).
Rory McIlroy went from a record-breaking first round to a second round over par. The Northern Irishman made 10 birdies on the opening day, a single round record at The Players Championship, to move into a three-way share of the lead. On Friday, however, he carded five birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey to drop to T15, eight shots behind Wyndham Clark.
McIlroy himself starred in one of the most notorious incidents of the first two rounds. The Northern Irishman took a penalty stroke on the 7th hole of the first round by sending his tee shot into the water, causing a stoppage of play for several minutes as fellow players Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth disagreed with the spot of McIlroy’s drop. In the end, the Northern Irishman played his ball without changing his spot, but in the words of Barstool Sports reporter Dan Rapaport, “they’re keeping an eye on Rory.”
Ryan Fox made a hole-in-one on the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. The Kiwi also made eagle on the 16th, becoming the first player to make back-to-back eagles on a pair of holes at The Players Championship since records began being kept in 1983.
The cut line was set at 1 under. Among those who missed the weekend were Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
The Players Championship leaderboard after Round 2
- 1. Wyndham Clark: -14
- T2. Nick Taylor: -10
- T2. Xander Schauffele: -10
- T4. Maverick McNealy: -9
- T4. Matt Fitzpatrick: -9
- T6. Matti Schmid: -8
- T6. Corey Conners: -8
- T6. Scottie Scheffler: -8
- T6. Tom Hoge: -8
- T10. Brian Harman: -7
- T10. Sahith Theegala: -7
- T10. J.T. Poston: -7
- T10. C.T. Pan: -7
- T14. Hideki Matsuyama: -6
- T14. Harris English: -6
- T14. Chris Kirk: -6
- T14. Taylor Montgomery: -6
- T14. Sepp Straka: -6
- T14. Nate Lashley: -6
- T14. Jason Day: -6
- T14. Rory McIlroy: -6
- T22. Sam Ryder: -5
- T22. Cameron Young: -5
- T22. Ryan Moore: -5
- T22. Christiaan Bezuidenhout: -5
- T22. Lee Hodges: -5
- T27. Matt NeSmith: -4
- T27. Taylor Moore: -4
- T27. Collin Morikawa: -4
- T27. Austin Eckroat: -4
- T27. Keith Mitchell: -4
- T27. Emiliano Grillo: -4
- T27. Ludvig Åberg: -4
- T34. Joel Dahmen: -3
- T34. Francesco Molinari: -3
- T34. Séamus Power: -3
- T34. Doug Ghim: -3
- T34. Shane Lowry: -3
- T34. Alex Noren: -3
- T34. Chan Kim: -3
- T34. Si Woo Kim: -3
- T34. Kurt Kitayama: -3
- T34. Tony Finau: -3
- T34. Mark Hubbard: -3
- T45. Grayson Murray: -2
- T45. Viktor Hovland: -2
- T45. Patrick Cantlay: -2
- T45. Denny McCarthy: -2
- T45. Adam Schenk: -2
- T45. Tommy Fleetwood: -2
- T45. Adam Scott: -2
- T45. Sungjae Im: -2
- T45. Jimmy Stanger: -2
- T45. Tyler Duncan: -2
- T55. Rickie Fowler: -1
- T55. Zac Blair: -1
- T55. Min Woo Lee: -1
- T55. Sam Burns: -1
- T55. David Lipsky: -1
- T55. J.J. Spaun: -1
- T55. Ben Martin: -1
- T55. Jake Knapp: -1
- T55. Sami Välimäki: -1
- T55. Aaron Rai: -1
- T55. Thomas Detry: -1
- T55. Brice Garnett: -1
- T55. Peter Malnati: -1
- T55. Gary Woodland: -1
- T55. Mackenzie Hughes: -1
- T55. Martin Laird: -1
- T55. Dylan Wu: -1
- T55. Andrew Putnam: -1
- T55. Max Homa: -1
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