The second round of the 2026 the players championship begins Friday, March 13, at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Justin Thomas’ 68 and Ludvig Åberg’s bogey-free 69 are documented facts that set up a tournament where recent injury setbacks and weekend tee times complicate expectation versus evidence.
Justin Thomas at TPC Sawgrass: Round 1 rebound and Friday tee time
Confirmed fact: Justin Thomas missed the first part of the 2026 season while recovering from back surgery and had two 79s at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that left him well short of the cut. Documented: at TPC Sawgrass he opened with three consecutive birdies, finished with a 68 and sits four under, tied for second. Confirmed fact: Thomas began his first round on the 10th tee and will switch to a 1st-tee start for Round 2; his Friday tee time is 1: 42 pm ET alongside Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood. This sequence of scores and schedule shows a measurable short-term rebound after a difficult return to competition.
Ludvig Åberg at The Players Championship: bogey-free 69 and shifting favorites
Confirmed fact: Ludvig Åberg recorded a bogey-free 69, hitting 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens, and scrambled 4-for-4 when he missed a green. Documented pattern: Åberg entered the week listed as one of the favorites and posted a strong round that commentators described as clinical; with Collin Morikawa’s abrupt withdrawal and other health questions in the field, the record in the opening round positions Åberg as increasingly prominent. Documented: Åberg also carried momentum from a T3 finish at Bay Hill the prior week, an explicit fact in the record that helps explain why his opening 69 carries weight among observers.
Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler: injuries and mixed scoring
Confirmed fact: Collin Morikawa injured himself on a practice swing on hole 11 and was carted off, ending his week nearly before it began. Confirmed fact: Rory McIlroy had been nursing a back issue that forced him to withdraw from his prior start; he arrived on-site late, did not play a practice round and posted a 74, placing him over par and in a position to battle the cut. Confirmed fact: Scottie Scheffler shot an even-par 72 and gained +1. 1 strokes on putting, including a long birdie putt on the 15th. Documented: the combination of Morikawa’s immediate withdrawal, McIlroy’s health-related preparation limitations, and Scheffler’s less-than-expected scoring creates a documented divergence between pre-tournament favorites and the opening-round leaderboard.
Documented pattern: the opening day featured windy, rainy conditions and a weather delay; multiple players matched the day’s low of 5-under. These specific scoring and weather details, taken together with injury incidents and recovery narratives, reveal a field whose early order of merit differs from pre-week expectations.
The context does not confirm how any single player will perform over the weekend or whether early leaders will sustain form under changing weather and course conditions. What remains unclear is how long Justin Thomas’ apparent recovery will hold, or whether Åberg’s opening confidence will translate into consistent low rounds across the remainder of the tournament.
If Justin Thomas posts another sub-par round when he plays his second round at 1: 42 pm ET, it would establish that his opening rebound at TPC Sawgrass was more than a single-round flash and that his recovery from back surgery is producing repeatable performance on a course that typically magnifies weaknesses and injuries.
