Ponte Vedra, Fla. — The story of the first two rounds of this week's athletes championship was about how calm the conditions were on the usual demonic stadium course at TPC Sawgrass.
When the two rounds of play ended on Friday evening, there were many sub-par numbers on the scoreboard.
Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia share the lead on the halfway mark with an 11-under par after shooting a 66-under 66 on Friday.
JJ Spaun is one shot at 10 under par after 68 in two rounds.
Two multiple major championship winners, Rory McIlroy, ranked 2nd in the world, and Collin Morikawa and Alex Smalley, ranked 4th, all come with 9 under par.
Will Zaratoris and Lucas Glover are 8 under and followed by Tommy Fleetwood and Jake Knapp with a 7 under par.
It was good to get it for the first two days, but the scores that can be achieved with Greens Soft and Winddown are low, and all numbers that change over the weekend change with heavy winds in the forecast.
The winds on Saturday and Sunday are projected to be 15-25 mph with higher gusts of wind. And the players pretend to be that.
“It's going to be difficult,” Lee said. “I received a text message [Friday] From the tour they say they are trying to adjust the course [the wind]. It's a difficult course even without the wind and is intimidating.
“There are holes that can be easier because they are obviously downwind and there are holes in them, but there are holes that are much more difficult.”
Scotty Scheffler, the world's No. 1 competing with 5 under par, said: “This weekend is pretty challenging. The golf course was definitely available for the first two days.”
That gravy train ended after Friday's round.
“Obviously, windy tests are completely different tests,” Fleetwood said. “Controlling the ball from the tee is even more important than usual, giving you the opportunity to control the golf ball, being relentlessly patient and trying to continue hitting shots. Whatever the challenge is, I look forward to it.”
So does McIlroy. McIlroy believes more difficult conditions could be opportunities for movement.
“I look forward to it,” McIlroy said. “I think it's really important to try and fly the ball and try to keep it under the tree line. I think you can actually start to hit it when you get on top of the tree line. This course is challenging enough, but it's that kind of wind, and yeah, I'm excited about the challenge.”
6-under par Billy Horschel said he expects “one challenge hell” from the course with the wind over the weekend.
“You always want it to be difficult, but once you start to get that wind condition, quality golf shots don't always work,” Horschel said. “It's one of those days when you embrace and understand that you're going to hit some good shots that don't work out, and some bad shots that have become some really bad spots.”
Justin Thomas has been the wildest ride ever in the tournament.
He finished with eight over par on his first 16 holes in the opening round on Thursday, finishing with 78 and tied up for the 134th on Friday.
Thomas then burned the Earth in the second round, shooting 10 under par 62, setting a tournament record with 11 birdies.
And 62, who tied the track record held by Tom Hoge, included a bogey on hole 18, where he punched his second shot into the water.
Interestingly, Thomas was paired with Hoge when he shot that 62 in 2023.
There are birdies on the last two holes of his first round and 11 holes in the second round, with Thomas birding 13 of his past 20 holes, with 12 under par in that range.
He moved from 134th to 134th and finished 29th on the weekend with four tickets standard.
Thomas called it “certainly one of the best rounds I've played,” adding on Thursday that he was “obviously mad at my score.”
“The score was sucked in,” Thomas said of 78.
Then asked about the impending wind weather challenge over the weekend, Thomas said, “I'm just happy to play, man. When I saw it, I was too excited early in the week. [wind in the forecast] Because I love playing with those conditions.
“You have to be creative, and it's just hard. But I was far from thinking about it yesterday or last night.”
