Unbeatable playing conditions, with hardly any wind, good temperature, and quite receptive greens for what is expected in a tournament like this THE PLAYERS Championship. An ideal setting for the morning matches this Friday to deliver, for the second consecutive day, quite low scores among many of the favourites for the final victory. Including a Rory McIlroy (-9) who clearly went from more to less… and failed to finish the job.
The Northern Irishman strung together an incredible series in his first eleven holes of the day, starting from the 10th tee: birdie, par, birdie, par, birdie, par… and so on until the 4th hole, already in the second half of his round, where he couldn’t continue his tremendous accuracy. Rory was, as usual, going long from the tee, creating good birdie opportunities, sinking almost everything between two and three metres, and making some tremendous putts, like the one over eight metres for birdie with which he started his round.
But in the final stretch, mistakes began, and he stopped being infallible in recoveries, making a bogey on the 6th after missing the fairway to the left and sending his second shot to the bunker, and on the par-five 9th with which he closed his round, penalised by a fatal second shot to the left rough, with no possibility of attacking the green, which forced him to play to the fairway. From 11 under par with seven holes still to play and co-leading the tournament, he dropped to nine under, for a card of 68 that was surely below his expectations.
Hot start for @McIlroyRory 🔥
1-under thru 1 and a shot back of the lead.
📺 @PGATOURLIVE pic.twitter.com/HG0ZSXsT3k
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2025
In the same match played the World Number One, Scottie Scheffler (-5), who remains too erratic at the start of this year. It’s not easy to see him make three bogeys or more in a single round, and so far in 2025, there have been four cards where he has suffered them. This Friday, he couldn’t continue improving the record of consecutive rounds under 70 strokes at the Stadium Course of TPC Sawgrass. He had to settle precisely for a 70, with five birdies and those three errors, adorned with gestures of despair, hands on his face after missing some putts he was used to always making, and some frustrated chats with his caddie. He played quite well from tee to green, but his recovery statistics were almost as low (one out of four) as his accuracy with the putter.
Min Woo Lee (-11), who has been playing quite well this season, with three top 20s in four tournaments, was one of the best today in Ponte Vedra Beach. His series of six birdies in nine holes between the 15th and the 5th (also starting from the 10th tee) catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard, shared for much of the morning with Rory until the Northern Irishman ‘stalled’. His 66 was one of the best rounds of the morning, showing himself almost infallible at hitting greens and at a very high level putting, although a bogey on the par-five 9th with which he closed his day after a poor second shot to the right and a recovery to the bunker left him with a bitter aftertaste at the end.
COLLIN ALMOST RANG THE BELL pic.twitter.com/YVnjxU1Bwp
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2025
Akshay Bathia (-11) also presented his candidacy with another great round of 66 strokes, like Min Woo Lee, the second-best score of the morning, which puts him fully in the fight as the weekend approaches. J.J. Spaun (-10), with a striking floral shirt, held on despite his numerous errors (six recoveries out of eight) and only on his last flag of the day, on the par-four 18th, did he end up conceding with a bogey that prevented him from presenting himself in the clubhouse as the provisional co-leader. And Tommy Fleetwood (-7), with very consistent play and great precision approaching, shot 66 to climb a good handful of positions and look upwards.
However, in this morning session, the one who shone the most was none other than Collin Morikawa (-9). No less than nine birdies did the Californian make, excelling around the green and with the putter in hand, to deliver a card of 65 strokes, the best he has signed since the third round of the Sentry of champions at the beginning of January. Harris English (-6), with an eagle from the fairway on the 18th, or the veteran Charley Hoffman (-5), with a great 65, also shone on this Friday morning of a THE PLAYERS where there is still much to play for.
