Rory McIlroy Makes Players Cut on the Number; Scheffler Also
Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon at The Players seemed like the longest 36-holes of golf ever, but after three-and-a-half days, two rounds were finally concluded. The blood sport conversation, as the second round came to a merciful end, was, would Peter Malnati, Nick Watney, or Scott Piercy birdie the final hole to throw Rory McIlroy and newcomer Scottie Scheffler out of the top 65 and ties cut for the weekend.
When all three parred, McIlroy fans breathed a sigh of relief. Scheffler’s probably did too. He’s the newest shiny object on the PGA Tour with two victories in the last five weeks. McIlroy and Scheffler will be lucky to get six or seven holes of their third rounds played on Sunday before darkness stops play.
Even though McIlroy is far behind — nine shots off the lead — he has two rounds to move up. He has come back from the cut number to win in the past. In 2010, he made the cut on the number at the Wells Fargo Championship and won it.
He’s not the only golfer who has won from the cut number. Both Brandt Snedeker at the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open and Carl Pettersson at the 2010 RBC Canadian Open have done it.
“Leaderboard hasn’t even started to shape up yet,” Paul Casey said after two rounds were completed at The Players
McIlroy and Scheffler were both in with a two-day total of 2-over par. The leaders, Sam Burns, and Tom Hoge are at 7-under. But at TPC Sawgrass, that’s not enough of a lead. On this monster, anything can happen to anybody’s score. No lead is safe until the final putt drops,” Paul Casey said after finishing 36 holes at 5-under par. “I think like I’ve got lucky that a few guys have been spat out just because of the draw, and that makes it a little easier to look at in terms of people I’ve got to beat.”
He was talking about Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, and Patrick Cantlay, all of whom won in the last 18 months, but missed the cut.
Those who made it to the third round were pleased to have survived, including World No. 1 Jon Rahm, defending champ Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Francesco Molinari, and others.
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The luck of the draw definitely applied this week.
“The conditions for our side of the wave are pretty brutal. So just decided to have a good attitude about it,” said Doug Ghim after round two.
“I’m one of those who believes that if this wasn’t The Players Championship, we would have not played yesterday,” Rahm said after finishing two rounds. He was on the good side of the draw. “Today I was able to play a rather mediocre round of golf and post a decent score, and I’m still in the hunt for this tournament, so I consider myself lucky.”
“I watched a little bit of the telecast yesterday, and it was carnage,” Abraham Ancer commented. “This golf course, there’s really no room for error. It’s super penal when the wind is blowing like that.”
“This golf course doesn’t really give you a chance to kind of have a minute to be unfocused. It kind of takes your attention on every shot,” third-round co-leader Sam Burns said.
Next. Slaughter at the 17th!! The Players Course Hurts All. dark
There were fairly significant weather changes from Wednesday to Sunday. On Wednesday, it was 85 degrees with light breezes. Saturday, the wind blew to 43 MPH. Sunday morning, it was 35 degrees, 50 degrees colder than Wednesday’s high, and the wind was expected to be between 8 and 20 MPH all day.
The conditions mean that disasters are up. The way that’s usually measured is balls in the water. That count is up, too, according to the PGA Tour. On the 17th, through two rounds, there have been 48 balls in the water, which is more than four rounds in some years. On the 18th, amazingly, there have been 50 balls in the water, either off the tee or from a second or third shot. That is an all-time high, breaking the 2003 record of 45.
The 18th and 17th are playing as the toughest holes on the course so far. Through the first two rounds, the scoring average for them is 4.779 for the 18th and 3.500 for the 17th.
The fourth round will be played Monday afternoon.