2025 Players Championship: Notable names to miss the cut at TPC Sawgrass

It was quite the eventful Friday at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, as the 2025 edition of The Players Championship is starting to take shape.

Tied atop the 36-hole leaderboard are Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia, each of whom fired a 6-under 66 on what was a great day for scoring at Pete Dye's design.

The only other player in double digits under par at this point is J.J. Spaun, who shot a solid 4-under 68 to get to 10-under for the week.

Lurking just two shots out of the lead are two of the top four players in the world, as both second-ranked Rory McIlroy and fourth-ranked Collin Morikawa sit at 9-under.

Rory followed up his opening-round 67 with a 68 on Friday, while Morikawa recorded nine birdies against a pair of bogeys en route to a 7-under 65. Alex Smalley is also at 9-under after carding a 5-under 67.

Lucas Glover and Will Zalatories are tied for seventh at 8-under, while Tommy Fleetwood and Jake Knapp round out the top 10 at 7-under.

World No. 1 and two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler sits six shots back in a tie for 16th at 5-under.

Then, of course, there are those who won't be around for the weekend, a list that many thought would include Justin Thomas, whose 6-over 78 on Thursday left him tied for 134th after 18 holes.

But JT caught fire on Friday, carding a record 11 birdies on his way to a 10-under round of 62, thus tying the course record at TPC Sawgrass. The two-time major champion ultimately jumped more than 100 spots up the leaderboard and will enter Saturday's third round in a tie for 29th at 4-under.

Thomas, of course, was part of one of the more high-profile threesomes during the first two rounds, playing alongside world No. 4 Ludvig Åberg and sixth-ranked Hideki Matsuyama. Shockingly, however, JT will be the only member of the group to play the final 36 holes, as both Åberg (+2, T94) and Matsuyama (E, T74) are heading home early.

Several major champions are among those to miss the cut at The Players Championship

For the vast majority of Friday's second round, the cut line at Sawgrass was seemingly set to be 1-under.

However, late in the day, the number moved to 2-under when Aaron Rai made birdie at the par-4 sixth, which was his 15th hole of the day, as he started on the back nine.

But that didn't last long, as several others faded down the stretch, thus moving the cut line back to 1-under, allowing a group of eight players to make it through to the weekend, a list that includes Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry, Tom Kim, and Sungjae Im.

As for those who failed to make the cut, joining Åberg and Matsuyama are several other high-profile players, a list that includes Justin Rose (E), Adam Scott (+2), Thomas Detry (+3), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+3), Viktor Hovland (+4), Brian Harman (+6), Matt Fitzpatrick (+6), Max Homa (+6), Tony Finau (+8), Maverick McNealy (+9), and Gary Woodland (+12).

Wyndham Clark will also sit out Saturday and Sunday, as the 2023 U.S. Open champ withdrew midway through his second round due to a neck injury.