Zürcher Nachrichten - Thomas ties course record with 62 as Lee, Bhatia lead Players

EUR -
AED 4.011033
AFN 76.996311
ALL 99.246414
AMD 428.482641
ANG 1.968884
AOA 999.289911
ARS 1165.969548
AUD 1.710699
AWG 1.968547
AZN 1.859162
BAM 1.959847
BBD 2.205775
BDT 132.732883
BGN 1.955611
BHD 0.411436
BIF 3184.076634
BMD 1.09212
BND 1.454704
BOB 7.548588
BRL 6.206628
BSD 1.092466
BTN 94.854312
BWP 14.853741
BYN 3.575199
BYR 21405.557203
BZD 2.194442
CAD 1.561459
CDF 3139.845389
CHF 0.96193
CLF 0.026197
CLP 1005.298854
CNY 7.899524
CNH 7.893337
COP 4447.659781
CRC 544.920289
CUC 1.09212
CUP 28.941187
CVE 110.742473
CZK 25.04647
DJF 194.091886
DKK 7.4607
DOP 68.696027
DZD 145.766418
EGP 55.169987
ERN 16.381804
ETB 140.883015
FJD 2.519418
FKP 0.843998
GBP 0.840441
GEL 3.041589
GGP 0.843998
GHS 16.927577
GIP 0.843998
GMD 78.632381
GNF 9452.300935
GTQ 8.423472
GYD 228.563037
HKD 8.485741
HNL 28.132999
HRK 7.53312
HTG 143.277184
HUF 397.826264
IDR 17886.745708
ILS 3.988374
IMP 0.843998
INR 94.923981
IQD 1430.677548
IRR 45991.913101
ISK 146.278082
JEP 0.843998
JMD 171.093314
JOD 0.774419
JPY 162.967262
KES 141.433962
KGS 95.446723
KHR 4382.134002
KMF 492.382294
KPW 982.908239
KRW 1576.524702
KWD 0.33633
KYD 0.910384
KZT 544.699836
LAK 23655.324653
LBP 97853.975558
LKR 323.781585
LRD 217.43687
LSL 19.898083
LTL 3.224747
LVL 0.660613
LYD 5.261288
MAD 10.53623
MDL 19.637642
MGA 5105.662657
MKD 61.5077
MMK 2293.43514
MNT 3792.36786
MOP 8.743515
MRU 43.572379
MUR 49.199645
MVR 16.830105
MWK 1897.013173
MXN 21.785942
MYR 4.852839
MZN 69.797443
NAD 19.89831
NGN 1682.957106
NIO 40.140842
NOK 11.540215
NPR 151.767099
NZD 1.877611
OMR 0.420365
PAB 1.092456
PEN 3.998231
PGK 4.395232
PHP 62.478021
PKR 305.984804
PLN 4.186588
PYG 8681.928477
QAR 3.976428
RON 4.977774
RSD 117.194355
RUB 91.135388
RWF 1534.428973
SAR 4.096069
SBD 9.186136
SCR 15.679558
SDG 656.364329
SEK 11.017856
SGD 1.452303
SHP 0.858235
SLE 24.927629
SLL 22901.217089
SOS 624.151412
SRD 39.415776
STD 22604.684513
SVC 9.558739
SYP 14199.682907
SZL 19.898369
THB 36.70068
TJS 11.940329
TMT 3.822421
TND 3.359037
TOP 2.557852
TRY 40.025446
TTD 7.415245
TWD 35.979359
TZS 2891.811038
UAH 45.290326
UGX 4007.275159
USD 1.09212
UYU 46.55614
UZS 14142.956981
VES 71.582798
VND 27881.830377
VUV 134.284304
WST 3.078136
XAF 657.314377
XAG 0.03225
XAU 0.000364
XCD 2.95151
XDR 0.818487
XOF 658.001026
XPF 119.331742
YER 268.934937
ZAR 19.752039
ZMK 9830.390224
ZMW 31.335709
ZWL 351.66228
  • RBGPF

    -0.4100

    66.02

    -0.62%

  • CMSC

    0.1100

    23.33

    +0.47%

  • CMSD

    0.1900

    23.54

    +0.81%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    11.01

    +0.18%

  • RELX

    0.6700

    49.6

    +1.35%

  • NGG

    0.9300

    64.14

    +1.45%

  • BCC

    0.6500

    100

    +0.65%

  • RIO

    0.4300

    63.47

    +0.68%

  • BCE

    0.2300

    23.7

    +0.97%

  • JRI

    0.1700

    13

    +1.31%

  • GSK

    0.7600

    40.25

    +1.89%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    10.45

    +0.96%

  • VOD

    0.3100

    9.86

    +3.14%

  • AZN

    -0.2300

    77.37

    -0.3%

  • BP

    0.3700

    33.76

    +1.1%

  • BTI

    0.4800

    41.84

    +1.15%

Thomas ties course record with 62 as Lee, Bhatia lead Players
Thomas ties course record with 62 as Lee, Bhatia lead Players / Photo: Jared C. Tilton - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Thomas ties course record with 62 as Lee, Bhatia lead Players

Justin Thomas matched the TPC Sawgrass course record with a 10-under-par 62 on Friday while Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia each fired 66s to share the second-round lead at The Players Championship.

Text size:

Australian Lee and American Bhatia each finished 36 holes on 11-under 133 with American J.J. Spaun one stroke back and second-ranked Rory McIlroy sharing fourth on 135 with Americans Collin Morikawa and Alex Smalley.

The day's epic round, however, belonged to two-time major winner Thomas, who matched a course mark set by fellow American Tom Hoge in 2023 to finish the day seven off the lead.

"I hadn't had that happen in a while of just getting in a little bit of rhythm," Thomas said. "I was in a groove. It was fun. It was nice to have a great day today.

"I'm pleasantly surprised and happy to have a tee time tomorrow."

The 31-year-old American, who stumbled to a 78 on Thursday, birdied five of the first nine holes then birdied four in a row starting at the par-five 11th and added a birdie putt from just inside five feet at the par-five 16th.

"One of those days," Thomas said. "The greens were soft so you could be pretty aggressive. Just keep that gas pedal down."

At the par-three 17th island hole, Thomas hit a gap wedge to 18 feet and curled in a tense birdie putt.

But after a course-record 11 birdies, Thomas found the right rough and then water with his second shot at the par-four 18th before pitching inches from the hole and tapping in for bogey.

"It was such a bad mistake to do that, but I was in such a great place all day," Thomas said. "Just tried to stay in my zone and finish off the day and we did."

Leaders Lee and Bhatia, meanwhile, made some magic of their own.

Lee sank seven birdies but suffered his lone bogey on his final hole, the par-five ninth, after finding the right rough and a greenside bunker.

"Felt really good over the ball," Lee said. "Just really good numbers and rolled some putts in."

The 26-year-old from Perth seeks his first PGA victory but has won the Asian Tour's Macau Open and three DP World Tour events.

Bhatia, seeking his third career PGA title, made eight birdies Friday and 13 in the first two days -- his most since winning last year's Texas Open.

Four-time major champion McIlroy, a winner last month at Pebble Beach and at the 2019 Players, fired a 68.

McIlroy, a back-nine starter, birdied six of his first 11 holes but the 35-year-old Northern Ireland star fell back after bogeys at the par-four sixth and par-five ninth.

McIlroy hit 11-of-14 fairways on Friday after finding only four in round one despite an opening 67.

"Much better off the tee today and that set me up," McIlroy said. "Didn't shoot quite as good a score as yesterday but I felt like I played much better.

"I'm really encouraged with how I hit it off the tee. I've got a good feel for it now and hopefully that can carry over into the weekend."

- Scheffler's frustration -

Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler shot 70 to stand on 139 but the world number one and reigning Masters champion admitted to some frustration.

"The last two days I felt like I could have scored a lot better," Scheffler said. "But still doing a lot of good things."

Third-ranked Xander Schauffele, last year's British Open and PGA Championship winner, shot 71 to stand on 143, making the cut on the number.

Six rounds into a rib-injury comeback, the American described his game as "pretty bad" and said he would ignore doctor practice limits, vowing to "blow that out of the water."

M.J.Baumann--NZN