PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – From hot and humid to rain and wind to chilly and bitter cold, the Players Championship has seemingly endured all four seasons and everything but locusts and boils.
It took 54 hours, 16 minutes to complete the first round on Saturday and half that time to finally make the 36-hole cut on Sunday afternoon. As a result, the third round began, but players will have to finish at least 27 holes on Monday before a victor can be crowned.
How much has the Players lacked continuity? Sam Burns, one of the 36-hole co-leaders, said he had to ask his caddie what day it was today.
“I really wasn’t even sure,” Burns said. “It kind of felt like we were starting a new tournament today.”
Paul Casey, who finished his first round on Thursday, said he couldn’t recall having two consecutive days off during a tournament.
“How would I characterize it?” said Casey, who is tied for fourth. “It’s been weird.”
When play was suspended due to darkness, India’s Anirban Lahiri had vaulted into the lead at 9 under through 11 holes of his round at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, one stroke ahead of Tom Hoge and Harold Varner III.
One day after howling winds caused chaos to the leaderboard and sent many of the best players in the world packing their bags after missing the cut, the wind died down, the temperature warmed a tad as the day went along and the birdies returned.
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Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley used a boxing analogy to describe the difference between the conditions from one day to the next and the way players shifted from defense to attack mode at Pete Dye’s famed course.
“Yesterday they were on the ropes, ducking and diving the punches thrown at them,” said Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley. “Today, it was about coming off the ropes. It was time to throw punches now, get on the front foot and take on the course and start firing at flags.”
Few landed more blows than Lahiri, who signed for 67 in his opening round on Thursday and was among the players who didn’t play for two days. After spending his down time watching a cricket test match, he headed to the course on Saturday afternoon and lugged a duffel bag filled with cold-weather gear to the back of the range and tried on various outfits to figure out the most layers that he could wear and swing a club.
“Going to bed last night I was a bit scared how cold it was going to be. I’m not used to playing temperatures sub-40,” he said.
On Sunday morning, he said he wore four layers and carried a fifth as temperatures dipped into the 30s.
“It was just brutally cold,” said Lahiri. “I think I started feeling my toes probably around the 10th or 11th hole. I was numb ankle down for the first three holes.”
But Lahiri recalled playing in colder conditions.
“I think the coldest I’ve ever been in my life was probably the 2013 Ballantyne’s Championship in Jeju, Korea,” he said. “I was borderline hypothermic the whole day. I was so happy I missed the cut.”
On Sunday, his putter warmed up at the 11th hole of his second round as he canned an 11-foot eagle putt en route to shooting 73. Lahiri’s putter stayed hot in the afternoon as he reeled off four birdies on the front nine, including a 25-foot putt at the par-5 ninth. He made his lone bogey of the third round at the 10th, but bounced back with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 11th to regain the solo lead.
Lahiri climbed as high as No. 40 in the world in 2015 and played on the International Team at the Presidents Cup that same year. But he’s dipped to No. 322 in the world entering the Players and still is seeking his maiden PGA Tour title. Still, his self-belief that he belongs on the PGA Tour has remained intact.
“You grind away, you keep chipping away, you keep working on your game, and when it clicks, it clicks. It could be this week, it could be next week. As long as it happens, and that’s the belief you’ve got to have, and that’s the commitment you’ve got to have,” Lahiri said. “I’m just happy that I’m playing well. I’m just happy that I’m hitting my irons well. I’m just happy.”
Hot on his heels at 8 under through nine holes when play was suspended were Hoge, winner of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month and the other 36-hole co-leader at the Players after shooting 71 in the second round, and Varner III, who won the Saudi International the same day as Hoge and shot a pair of 69s at TPC Sawgrass.
Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz was the hottest man on the course with six birdies through 14 holes to improve to 7 under for the tournament and a tie for fourth place with Burns and Casey.
The shot of the day belonged to Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who aced the island-green par-3 17th hole with a pitching wedge from 124 yards.
“Special things happen sometimes,” Lowry said. “It’s pretty cool to do it there, one of the most iconic holes in golf.”
Asked if he would celebrate his hole-in-one during the evening, Lowry said, “No, hopefully tomorrow night. Hopefully celebrating something else.”
With 17 golfers within four strokes of the lead and as many as 27 holes still to go, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will be celebrating on Monday – hopefully – with a check for $3.6 million, the Tour largest winner’s check.
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