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The second round of the 2024 Players Championship started in curious fashion as world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler injured his neck early while attempting to challenge for the lead. The defending champion at TPC Sawgrass was able to finish his second set of 18 holes and remains in contention at 8 under, but he will enter Moving Day far removed from 36-hole leader Wyndham Clark at 14 under.
The U.S. Open champion fired his second straight 65 to take firm control of this championship. Clark's play continues a trend of his game elevating on golf's biggest stages. A major champion and a winner of two signature events at major venues like Quail Hollow and Pebble Beach, Clark has a chance to add to what has been a career-altering year with a win at The Players.
"I just really don't know what it is," Clark said. "I would like to play great every week. I really looked at how Scottie has been playing this year and last year, and I use him as someone to try to keep up with, and he plays good every week. So, my thing is just try to be consistent, and with our schedule now, too, you kind of only play big events, so that's part of it as well."
Clark will face a similar chasing pack as the one that attempted to run him down last summer at Los Angeles Country Club. Xander Schauffele enters the weekend as his closest pursuer at 10 under after a solid second round, while their fellow first-round co-leader, Rory McIlroy, dropped to 6 under as he was once again unable to avoid wayward tee shots.
Major champions like Brian Harman and Matt Fitzpatrick also find themselves inside the top 10, but they are in need of something magical if they are to chase down the top man.
Let's take a closer look at the leaders and what else happened in Round 2.
2024 Players Championship leaderboard
1. Wyndham Clark (-14): This time last season, Clark was without a win on the PGA Tour. Now, he is the first player in Players Championship history to shoot 65 or lower in the first two rounds, according to Justin Ray. His 36-hole total of 130 was one stroke shy of the tournament record set by Jason Day in 2016 and Webb Simpson in 2018 – both of whom went onto win. There's a lot to like about Clark's game this week as he has hit enough fairways to allow his iron play to set up scoring chances. More times than not, those chances have turned into conversions as he has racked up 16 birdies and gained nearly eight strokes with the putter.
T2. Nick Taylor, Xander Schauffele (-10): This is an interesting couple sitting behind Clark. Taylor has been touted as a real closer for his wins at the Canadian Open and this year's WM Phoenix Open, while Schauffele has been criticized for not getting the job done enough when in the same position. Schauffele always seems to be around the top 10 every week on the PGA Tour, and it looked for a moment his relevance in this tournament was in doubt when he made double bogey on the par-5 11th from the middle of the fairway. He bounced back playing his final seven holes in 3 under including an eagle on 16.
T4. Matt Fitzpatrick, Maverick McNealy (-9): News of Fitzpatrick forgetting about a weight on his driver only to take it off a couple months ago surfaced this week. His typically strong off-the-tee numbers had taken a dip the first couple months of the season, but they have stormed back this week. Fitzpatrick leads the field in that statistical category thanks to ranking inside the top 10 in both driving distance and driving accuracy. Outside of a decision to go for the green from the rough on No. 4 resulting in a double bogey, the 2022 U.S. Open champion has been near flawless.
T6. Scottie Scheffler, Tom Hoge, Corey Conners, Matti Schmid (-8): The defending champion's status heading in into the weekend is the biggest storyline outside of Clark's lead. Scheffler tweaked his neck on his second hole but did extremely well to sign for a second-round 69 to remain a topic of conversation in this tournament. Scheffler's iron play will need to see an uptick if he expects to chase down Clark as the putter looks sturdy enough and the driver is cooperative. He ranks second in strokes gained off the tee having hit 23 of 28 fairways.
T10. J.T. Poston, Brian Harman, Sahith Theegala, C.T. Pan (-7): Theegala has been on a ride through 36 holes but somehow came in with a 67 on Friday. After carding a pair of double bogeys in Round 1, Theegala signed for just one bogey in Round 2 with his scorecard not telling the full story. Hitting only 50% of fairways, the 26-year-old has managed his way around TPC Sawgrass seeing as much of the golf course as anyone else in the field. Comparisons to Jordan Spieth are being drawn, and they are becoming more and ore legitimate given how both golfers play their games.
The Rory rollercoaster
It has plagued him in the early stages of 2024, and despite a nice opening round, McIlroy once again failed to avoid the big numbers at TPC Sawgrass. The first round co-leader followed his 10-birdie 65 with an up-and-down 73 to sit at 6 under through 36 holes, eight shots back of Clark.
McIlroy exchanged three birdies for three bogeys across his first six holes and got under par on his round with a sensational birdie on the par-5 9th. After failing to take advantage of the par-4 10th and par-5 11th, he pushed the envelope and attempted to drive the 12th. For the third time this week and the 12th time in this young season, the 34-year-old's ball found the water. McIlroy did well to save par, and he did bounce back with a birdie on the 13th, but the left miss returned just one hole later.
Missing left off the tee and left on his approach, McIlroy was lucky when his ball bounced out the trees and into the middle of the fairway short of the green. He did not do well to turn his good fortune into a good score as a bad pitch was followed by three putts resulting in a double bogey.
On the week, McIlroy has 15 birdies (just one less than the leader), but he's undone his success with three water balls and two double bogeys. The firepower is there; the mistakes will need to be cleaned up.
Ball No. 1,000 finds the water on 17
Beau Hossler has added his name to Players Championship history, albeit in an unenviable fashion. Hossler's tee shot on the par-3 17th found the water Friday morning, becoming the 1,000th ball to sink to a watery grave since the tournament began tracking the statistic in 2003.
Rick Gehman and Patrick McDonald recap the second round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
