While Rory McIlroy’s early Friday tee time and subsequent four-under second-round 68 meant his interests lay firmly at the top of the leaderboard and who – if anybody – might push the leading score beyond -11, for Shane Lowry and Séamus Power, it was all about making that halfway cut and giving yourself a chance to make a weekend charge up the leaderboard.
Unfortunately, Power had left himself too much to do after an opening round of 76, and a five-stroke improvement wasn’t enough to rescue him on day two, and he misses out for just the second time in six starts at The Players Championship.
Despite an excellent round off the tee on Thursday, it was Lowry’s putting that was the issue and he ranked among the lowest players in the field in Strokes-Gained with the flatstick as he went round in level-par.
Two bogeys on his front nine in round two seemed to spell curtains for the Offaly man, with the cut hovering between the -1 and -2 mark.
A birdie on the 11th got things moving in the right direction, and he added another on 14 to get back to level-par. Having failed to take advantage of the par-5 16th after a good drive, he headed to the daunting closing two holes at TPC Sawgrass knowing he’d need at least one birdie to have any hope of survival.
But the iconic par-3 17th has been good to Lowry down through the years – most notably when he aced it three years ago – and it was so again, as he spun a delicious wedge just past the hole and rolled in the four-footer to get his head back above water.
Such was the volatility of the cutline, however, that by the time Lowry was in the middle of the 18th fairway and sizing up his approach to the last, the cutline had already moved to -2, and it looked as though he’d need back-to-back birdies to earn a weekend tee time.
He couldn’t quite manage it, but fortune was in his favour when a couple of late bogeys elsewhere saw the line drop back to -1 and with the wind set to gust strongly on Saturday afternoon, Lowry could yet become a factor at the business end of the leaderboard if he can take advantage of his early tee time.
Elsewhere, Akshay Bhatia and Min Woo Lee share the lead at -11, one clear of JJ Spaun, with McIlroy and Collin Morikawa joined by Alex Smalley in a three-way tie for fourth at -9.
The day’s standout story was Justin Thomas, who rebounded from a first-round 78 with a stunning 62, tying the course record set by Tom Hoge in 2023. Thomas notched 11 birdies, including one at the 17th, finishing at five-under overall—an astonishing turnaround that thrust him back into contention. His bogey-free round showcased vintage form, putting the field on notice.
“Yeah, that was one of the best rounds I’ve played, for sure,” Thomas said. “I just got it — mentally it was the biggest thing. 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.”
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