A day after he barely broke 80, Justin Thomas nearly broke 60. The 2021 champion at TPC Sawgrass has put his name next to another entry in the record books as he recorded a 10-under 62 in the second round of the 2025 Players Championship to tie the course record.
Thomas, who shot a championship-record 11 birdies before scoring bogey on the last, will share the course record with Tom Hoge, who coincidentally opened with a 6-over 78 himself the year he set the mark. In the third round of the 2023 tournament, Hoge was paired with Thomas the day of his record-setting display.
Making Thomas’ performance even more impressive was how significant of a rebound it was from his effort Thursday. Thomas opened with a 78 and therefore improved by 16 strokes on Friday. That set a Players record for most strokes improved from Round 1 to Round 2 at the Stadium Course.
Thomas walked off the golf course seven strokes back of the pace in a tie for 30th at 4 under. He had walked onto the golf course hours earlier looking like he would be an early exit for this year’s Players.
Starting the day at 6 over, Thomas got to work immediately and carded a pair of birdies in his opening two holes. After the ball striking did the heavy lifting, his putter began to cooperate as he rolled in a 14 footer on No. 5 and a 13 footer on No. 7. A kick-in on No. 9 saw Thomas turn in 5 under as he inched his way back to red figures for the tournament.
After just missing a chance on No. 10, the wiry right hander went on a roll. Birdies on Nos. 11-14 came roaring as he converted looks from 14 feet and 20 feet, respectively, on Nos. 12 and 13 before a pinpoint approach accessed a tuck pin location on the difficult par-4 14th. From 3 feet, he connected again.
Hoge’s record was officially in sight with four holes to play as Thomas required just one birdie to tie and two to take the record for himself. He got both by taking advantage of the par-5 16th and curling in a ticklish right-to-left side bender on the island green for his record 11th birdie of the afternoon.
Thomas stepped on the 18th tee needing a par to shoot 61 and a birdie to shoot 60. However, after finding the right rough off the tee, he misplayed his second with his ball finding the penalty area running up the left side of the hole. After a drop, Thomas took a deep breath and pitched his fourth to tap-in distance to secure his bogey and a piece of Players history.
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