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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The crowd assembled around the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass stood in unison. Justin Thomas had just hit it to 18 feet on the island green — a satisfactory result — but it was what he had crafted in the previous 16 holes that had fans clamoring his name.
After starting his second round at 6 over, tied for 134th place and 12 shots behind the leader, Thomas had turned TPC Sawgrass into his playground, pouring in 10 birdies over 16 holes and shooting up the leaderboard of the Players Championship. The putt on 17 had just enough speed to trickle in and give Thomas his 11th birdie of the day, a tournament record. His lone bogey on 18 did not detract from the round of the day — a 62 that tied the course record shot by Tom Hoge in 2023 and gave Thomas a whopping 16-shot difference between Thursday and Friday.
“That was one of the best rounds I’ve played,” he said. “I felt like I did an unbelievable job of keeping my eyes forward, keeping my blinders on, not looking backwards, forwards, anything like that. It was