PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Suddenly, rain was the least of anyone’s problems Saturday in The Players Championship.
Not with wind that was gusting to 40 mph, making No. 17’s famous island green look more like a postage stamp. Not with temperatures plunging by the hour. And certainly not for the players who had to survive 18 holes of a second round that was shaping up as to be one of the toughest in PGA Tour history.
“This is as tough as golf as you’re ever going to play,” Keegan Bradley said after a 1-under-par 71, which he called one of the best rounds of his life.
Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson did the unthinkable. They didn’t make a bogey. Bradley would have joined them in not dropping a stroke except for a double on No. 16, where he was assessed a two-shot penalty for not playing his putt from where the wind had blown it away.
“You’re not really making that many swings. It’s just a lot of shots,” Thomas said after a 69 with a series of beautifully flighted shots – and some numbers that showed just how much the wind affected shots.