Fireworks At Round 2 Of "The Players" - 8 Players Within Three Strokes Of The Lead

The Round 1 leaders went in wildly different directions on Friday. Lucas Glover carded a 2-under 70 to hang around; Camilo Villegas’ 4-over 76 sank him outside the top 40; and J.J. Spaun fired a 68 to enter the weekend in solo third.

Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler posted a 70, leaving him in contention but with some work to do at six strokes back.

After 36 holes at The Players Championship, Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia are tied for the lead, with four players which includes Rory McIlroy, all within two strokes.

Not far off Thomas’s Friday pace was Collin Morikawa, whose 65, matched by Charley Hoffman for the second-lowest round of the day, vaulted him to 9 under, part of the three-way tie for fourth.

The story of the day, though, was Justin Thomas. A water ball on the final hole prevented him from breaking the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course record, but he still tied it with a 10-under 62. It was a stunning turnaround after he shot 78 in the opening round.

T1. Akshay Bhatia, Min Woo Lee (-11): What a fun final pair on tap with two of the brightest young stars sharing a weekend tee time at the biggest PGA Tour event. Both of these guys are absolutely feeling it on the greens so far -- Lee ranks second and Bhatia ranks third in strokes gained putting -- and that prowess will be tested on Saturday as the conditions will not only make full swings more difficult but also those on the greens.

3. J.J. Spaun (-10): He quietly has two podium finishes already this season, and he is in position to improve on those this weekend. The tee-to-green leader has been sensational gaining eight strokes on the field in that category and carding only two bogeys along the way. Spaun's putter will be tested, but if he continues to strike the ball like this, it may not matter.

T4. Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Alex Smalley (-9): The biggest names on the first page of the leaderboard sit at 9 under. McIlroy got as deep as 11 under before he missed five of his last seven greens in regulation and dropped two strokes coming home. He hit it much better off the tee (11 of 14 fairways) but was a hair loose with his irons down the stretch. Meanwhile, Morikawa leaned heavily on his short game highlighted by chip-in birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 en route to a 65.

T16. Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Cantlay and 10 others (-5): It's been both a relatively standard and uncharacteristic week from the world No. 1. Scheffler has been strong from tee to green and weak on the greens while also making a few course management mistakes typically unbecoming of him. Despite the shortcomings, he is still in this tournament only a half dozen back. And the longer he lurks, the longer his presence grows on this leaderboard.

"At times last year those were the putts that would go in, and the last few weeks seems like they haven't been," Scheffler said. "But still doing a lot of good things, hitting a lot of good putts and looking forward to trying to climb the leaderboard over the weekend."

T29. Justin Thomas, Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young and seven others (-4): Thomas's first two days at TPC Sawgrass are emblematic of his last two years. The 2021 champion tied the course record with a second-round 62 one day after barely breaking 80 with an opening 78. He will need more of that Friday firepower over the weekend if he is to somehow continue his march up the leaderboard.

https://cubemonkeysports.wixsite.com/cubemonkeysports/post/the-players-course-preview-gambling-picks Just a reminder I had JT and Morikawa picked to win pre tournament.