Two-time major champion hits all 14 fairways, birdies last two holes to grab sole lead
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. ― The X Man put on a clinic in the second round of The Players Championship on March 13 as the weather cleared, the wind blew a bit and fans packed the course.
Xander Schauffele didn’t break the course record. He didn’t even play a bogey-free round.
But it was difficult to find any flaws in the 65 that Schauffele posted at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to give him the clubhouse lead by one shot over Cameron Young at 10-under-par 134.
Young (68), birdied Nos. 14, 15 and 17 ― the latter on a 24-foot putt ― to beat his previous best opening 36-hole score at The Players by four shots.
Corey Conners (69) bogeyed No. 18 to fall out of a tie with Young for second and ended at 8-under. Sepp Straka (70) was in solo fifth at 7-under and Lee Hodges (70) and Jacob Bridgeman (68) were tied at 6-under.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy (71) finished in a tie for 56th when he signed his card at 1-over 145, one shot clear of the projected cut. He birdied his last hole, No. 9.
Xander Schauffele got off to a quick start
When last seen at the Stadium Course 2025, Schauffele was staggering to a 77-81 weekend finish that landed him 72nd and last in the tournament.
But he posted a solid 69 in the first round, then birdied four of six holes on the Stadium’s back nine, his front, and birdied his last two holes, the course’s most difficult par-3 (No. 8) and most difficult par-5 (No. 9).
Schauffele didn’t miss a fairway, so he didn’t have to tangle with the 5-inch rough. He missed only two greens and got up and down for par both times. His only bogey was a three-putt at the par-3 13th and his response was to birdie the next three holes.
His first 36 holes this week are a 24-shot improvement over his last 36 holes in the 2025 Players.
Schauffele didn’t realize he hit every fairway.
Schauffle was in such a zone that when a reporter commented on him hitting all 14 fairways, he said it had not dawned on him.
“[I] wasn’t aware of all the fairways hit,” he said. “Definitely nice to hit all of them, especially on this property. For the most part, I felt like I was in control and felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive. It’s always easy to be aggressive from the fairway here.”
In the midst of his run to the top of the leaderboard, Schauffele threw a couple of darts at two of the most difficult holes on the course, almost holing out at the par-4 14th and knocking another iron shot to within 5 feet at the par-4 15th.
After an up-and-down birdie at No. 16 and a 12-foot putt for par at No. 17, the 2024 PGA and British Open champion dropped a pair of 22-foot putts for birdie at Nos. 1 and 4, then drained his longest of the day: a roll of nearly 38 feet at the always-brutal par-4 eighth.
His last shot of the day was a 76-yard pitch onto the ninth green, to within inches of the hole for a tap-in birdie to match his best career round at the Stadium.
Schauffle was happy he had an early second round and said the course will firm up over the rest of the afternoon and into the third round, with forecasts of dry, windy conditions.
“Today the greens were firming up a little bit,” he said. “I think the course is just going to get firmer and firmer and firmer as long as we don’t get any more rain. So I think lines will change and certain flights into holes will change. Might have to play a little defensive at times, but only time will tell.”
Cameron Young rallied from par-5 bogey
Young, an immensely talented Wake Forest product who has never finished higher than a tie for 51st in The Players, bounced back from a bogey at No. 9 to play a 4-under back nine.
He hit marvelous iron shots at Nos. 14 and 15 to within 3 feet and 7 feet, then wowed the huge crowd around the Island Green with his long birdie putt there. He had a chance to tie Schauffele but missed the 18th green to the right from the fairway and saved a par.
“Tricky,” he described the course and the breezier conditions than his afternoon round of 68 the day before. “I feel if you’re not decisive, if you’re unsure of what you want to do, it can really kind of rear its head at you. So I feel like we did a really good job of just knowing what our goal was.”
Corey Conners got off to a blazing start
Conners had the best start of the morning rounds when he birdied his first four holes, with the longest putt coming on a roll of 21 feet at No. 1. He then capped a 6-under front nine by holing out from 102 yards for eagle at the par-5 ninth.
He stumbled with bogeys at Nos. 10 and 12 (the latter after skidding his second shot into the water on the left, after missing the fairway to the right) and also bogeyed No. 18 when he was short and in deep rough, and missed an 11-foot putt after chipping out.
“The feeling is good,” he said. “Obviously I did a lot of things well early in the round, and really my focus was just trying to continue to do what I was doing: Get it in play off the tee and give myself birdie looks. Helps when you get off to a start like that.”
Jordan Spieth had a memorable day
It was also a morning for Jordan Spieth, who was within two shots of the lead with five holes to play, to remind everyone that he’s won three major championships and once had a piece of the lead in The Players as a rookie in 2014.
He also reminded everyone why he’s been struggling in recent years as he shot 68 with seven birdies, finishing in a tie for 19th at the time he signed his card.
Spieth didn’t have much reason to feel frisky. He doubled the 18th hole to end the first round when he hit a second shot into the water, then started the second round with a hacker’s bogey at the par-4 10th, after needing two blasts to get out of the right greenside bunker.
It changed in a hurry when he started doing Jordan Spieth things.
Spieth two-putted for birdie at the par-5 11th. He got up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 16th and made a 6-foot birdie putt at the Island Green.
Spieth sliced his drive at No. 18 and the ball glanced off a tree and rolled into the fairway. That set up a 158-yard iron shot to within 6 feet and another birdie.
Spieth pounded an iron to within 3 feet at the first hole and tapped in for another birdie. At the par-5 second, he made birdie the hard way: His drive caught another tree and traveled only 203 yards. A marginal layup shot left him with 168 to the hole and his third shot came up short.
However, he drained a 49-foot birdie putt off the front fringe.
Spieth ended the day with a double bogey at No. 9, the product of a drive into the left rough. He required three more shots to get to the bunker surrounding the left of the green and three more to get down for a closing double bogey for the second day in a row.
“It was just a bummer, both days finish with doubles,” he said. “I just played better than that. I’ve been playing really well, trying to let the course come to me. Don’t have to force anything. It’s not quite there yet, but it’s like close enough to where I can do what I did today for a while. It’s a weird deal, weird game.”
