What a difference a day can make.
After a pitiful first round at the Players Championship, Justin Thomas turned in an historic performance for the ages on day two at Sawgrass – and it could have been even better.
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On Thursday, he shot a dreadful 78.
On Friday, he turned around and tied the course record of 62, set in 2023 by Tom Hoge, when ironically enough, Thomas played alongside him.
Thomas now joins his fellow American in the record books and completed a massive 16-shot turnaround – a new PGA Tour record, overtaking the 15-shot effort of Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
The two-time major winner also set a course record with 11 birdies.
Thomas was well on his way to missing the cut by a wide margin heading into the day, outside of the top 120 after a six-over par first round.
He now finishes the first two rounds inside the top 30, seven shots off the lead held by Min-Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia.
A rollercoaster 180 blows around TPC Sawgrass for the 31-year-old who won his only PLayers Championship title in 2021 with rounds of 717, 71, 64 and 68.
As good of a day as it was for Thomas, it could have been even better.
Thomas was 11-under after a brilliant birdie at the iconic 17th hole and just needed to par the 18th to break Hoge’s course record.
Unfortunately he missed out on it by a stroke, pulling his tee shot into the water, before making a great up and down for bogey and a round of 62, rather than 61.
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But his mind wasn’t focused on that.
After the round, Thomas spoke with Golf Channel’s Cara Banks and shared his thoughts, even giving credit to his wife, Jill, for the turnaround.
“I’m just happy I have a tee time tomorrow,” a relieved Thomas said.
“I was losing to I think everybody that was playing golf yesterday at one point.
“I really wasn’t too worried or upset about the golf I played, I was just more upset about obviously the round and how I was mentally out there.
“I feel like I was not sharp. I was very just spacey and I let some things get to me.
“I really made a very conscious effort, I had a great long talk with Jill last night.
“She was a great venting soundboard for me and, I told her walking off 18, I said, ‘Thanks for listening to me last night.’
“It’s always a team effort. Like I said, I’m just very pleasantly surprised and happy to have a tea time tomorrow.”
Thomas will enter the weekend at four-under, seven shots back of Bhatia and Lee, who lead the chase for the $4.5million winners check.
