Rainy, windy chaos might be the best way to sum up the 2022 Players Championship thus far, with the first round slated to resume Saturday at noon. In all likelihood, though, the chaos is just about to get started on the actual golf course.
(Scroll down for the latest updates)
Though the course is finally playable, sustained winds might lead to mayhem on Saturday at TPC Sawgrass. The rain is projected to dissipate, but the winds will not. The “afternoon wave” of Round 1 are scheduled to complete their opening 18 over the first two hours of play, before the grounds crew will switch up the pin positions and send that group back out on the course.
If you were part of the morning wave from Thursday, it has been over a day since you hit a golf shot. And you might not again until Sunday. Like we said, chaos.
Players 2022 live updates:
2:03 p.m.: Brendan Steele rolls in an eight-footer for par on No. 18 and finally, mercifully, the first round is officially over. Only about 54 hours after it started. Amazing. The wind is still whipping, but at least the guys remains dry for now as this tournament tries to get in position for a Monday finish.
1:51 p.m.: Props to Michael Thompson for making the only birdie on No. 18 since play re-started. Unfortunately, it came after he made a double bogey at No. 17, but still, nice bounceback. Thompson posts and opening 72—not bad for someone who didn’t get into the field until Friday.
1:36 p.m.: The carnage continues at TPC Sawgrass, and even the game’s biggest stars aren’t safe. First, Xander Schauffele finds the water on No. 11 with his second shot much like Daniel Berger in the group ahead. And then Jordan Spieth finds the middle of the pond with his tee shot on No. 12. Schauffele makes bogey to fall to six over(!) on his last four holes.
1:14 p.m.: Kevin Kisner came so close at TPC Sawgrass in 2015 when he lost in a playoff to Rickie Fowler. He’s in the mix again here early on with a nifty up and down at the 11th hole to get one within the lead.
In the group behind, Daniel Berger was also one off the lead but he just hit his approach into 11 in the water. That’s going to be really disappointing—Berger was in the fairway with ball in hand and hitting downwind. Now after a drop, Berger hits into the greenside bunker with his fourth shot. He makes a disappointing double burger to drop back to 3-under.
1:11 p.m.: Good scores are apparently not impossible, as Talor Gooch just proved at the second hole, which is a little more shielded from the gusts on the other side of the course.
12:58 p.m.: The second round is officially underway for a number of players, and one of those players is Dustin Johnson—who makes up for his bogey at the 18th hole with a birdie at his first hole of his second round, a 13-footer that gets DJ back within two of the lead.
12:45 p.m.: The 18th continues to cause absolute nightmares. Justin Thomas appeared to play a terrific recovery for his second shot from above the cart path, but it had too much juice and rolled into the water. Rory McIlroy hit an absolutely ripped driver which drew despite the left-to-right wind. And it traveled … 245 yards. INSANE. And he again ripped his iron approach from 215 yards, but it came up short. He couldn’t help but laugh and smile at what’s going on right now.
JT makes a double-bogey 6 at 18, which gets him in the clubhouse at even-par 72. Collin Morikawa manages a bogey after his tee shot way right. That ends up being a 1-over 73 after the rinsed shot at 17. Rory makes par to also finish at 1-over 73.
12:35 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler just advanced his second shot at the 18th hole about 15 yards from the thick rough. Then he finds the water with his third shot. Xander Schauffele’s punch shot from the right rough also stayed in the rough. His third shot rolls through fairway and into the water … then his fifth shot after the drop spun back off the green at least 50 feet. Sheeeeesh, this is really silly.
That’s a triple-bogey 7 for Xander, who did have it at 3-under before the 18th hole. He’s in now at even-par 72.
12:25 p.m.: Make that four-for-four tee shots in the water at the 17th hole. Collin Morikawa—after backing off the shot about three times—rinses his tee shot. Rory McIlroy is the first of the day to hit the green … and it just barely cleared the front bunker. And Justin Thomas got a heckuva break with the wind kind of dying down for his tee shot.
The 18th hole is also playing insanely tough right now. Daniel Berger carried his tee shot 225 yards … with a driver. But he manages to get up and down from the right to complete a 5-under 67. Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth both dropped shots as they completed their first rounds.
It is an absolute advantage to be on the front nine completing your first round right now. The ESPN+ coverage is showing flagsticks from holes on the front … and they aren’t even moving. That’s like a completely different golf course. And a nice break for Brice Garnett, who is tied for the lead right now with a few holes to go in his opening round.
12:10 p.m.: The first group has just played through the 17th hole … and everybody is wet. Just absolute insanity right now. Some of the best players in the world—Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka all just rinsed their tee shots. Xander’s approach wasn’t even close … that must’ve come up like 20 yards short.
12 p.m.: It’s official, we have golf once again at TPC Sawgrass! We’re seeing sustained winds of 25-30 miles per hour, which will make this so much fun to watch.
Daniel Berger (-5) and Dustin Johnson (-4) are feeling very good about having teed off on the 17th hole on Friday—not having to deal with these crazy winds. They had stress-free two-putts, and you have to feel good about a stress-free par at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday.
11:30 a.m.: It sounds like some golf will, in fact, being played at TPC Sawgrass. It has been nearly 43 hours since players like Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa started their first round around 6 p.m. on Thursday—and they will have a chance to complete that round in a few minutes … maybe have a quick bite to eat, then head back to the tee for their second rounds.
As our Daniel Rapaport says below, this is a day for your popcorn. The Golf Channel broadcast crew live from TPC Sawgrass can barely be heard because the wind is whipping so hard. Buckle. UP!
The squeegee remains the hero of the week—in addition to the entire golf course staff, of course, led by one of the best in the business, Jeff Plotts.
This is a fun watch on all of what goes into getting this golf course ready to play:
You know things are dire at TPC Sawgrass when the PGA Tour has now included the Wednesday forecast on its daily weather reports. It appears we are saying a Wednesday finish is possible, which is a wild thing to type out.