The weather continued to be a problem throughout the weekend as golfers had a hard time in Round 2 of the Players Championship. There is a time limit.
It was the toughest pre-cut round at the Players Championship in 15 years, and it was played in ferocious wind on Saturday.
The TPC Sawgrass got even more frightening with gusts that reached 40 mph on a Stadium Course that can be punishing even in calm conditions.
When the second round is completed on Sunday, it will be known where Thomas and Watson are. 27 players have yet to start the second round because of the rain.
The two leaders shared the lead at 3-under 141. Six of the players ahead of them had not finished a single hole, and they left in a tie for 15th.
Kevin Kisner missed a short par putt on the fourth and then double bogeyed the next hole as he fell to 6 under in his second round. He was at 2-under 142 after shooting 74. Johnson had two double bogeys on the par 5s over 36 holes and was at 142.
The course was so saturated by rain that it took 54 hours, 16 minutes from Adam Schenk hitting the opening tee shot Thursday morning to Brendan Steele holing out early Saturday afternoon to complete the first round.
Tom Hoge has the top spot going into Sunday. He has only played 18 holes. He opened with a 6-under 66 on Thursday and was tied with Tommy Fleetwood, who was even par through three holes.
The people who spent more than six hours on the course Saturday held on for dear life when they came to the island green on the 17th.
Four players hit into the water over the course of two days. The first four players couldn't find the green when play resumed on Saturday. Scottie went into the water after the wind died. The two players caught a wind and came up short, as did the other player in the group behind them.
29 balls went into the water by the end of the day.
The average score for the second round was 75.37, and it was certain to go higher on Sunday. The opening round average was 75.41 in 2007, the first year of the Players. The highest opening two rounds was in 2000 when it was 76.19.
After the cut, scoring tends to go down. The third round of 2005 had the highest average score.
Thomas said to describe the challenge.
On the 12th hole, Bradley hit a 9-iron from 96 yards into the wind, and on the 16th he hit a club from 206 yards into the wind.
When play was to resume on Sunday, the forecast was for temperatures in the upper 30s, but the wind was not as strong.
When they started out Friday in the rain, Thomas thought he would end up on the good side of the draw. Is it possible to finish the round in the morning and then face 18 holes in the afternoon? Not much.
Thomas said that there was always one person who was good on the bad side of the draw.
Many others went in the wrong direction.
After hitting into the water on the 17th, he salvaged a bogey and was 4 under for his opening round.
On the 18th hole, playing so long into the wind that some players needed fairway metal to reach the par-4 in two shots, he drew a bad lie in the rough that he advanced it only about 15 yards. He hit into the water. After a drop, his pitch had so much spin into the wind that it rolled back into the fairway.
He shot 78 in the second round after shooting 73 in the first.
When he came back, he was just left of the par-5 16th in two. He had to take four shots to get down. He shot 72 after putting his tee shot in the water for a double bogey. His 81 was his highest score on the tour.
The 17th was described by the golfer as luck.
He hit an 8-iron on the 16th hole in the morning. He thinks his 8-iron went 105 yards in the air and 20 feet to the bottom of the pond on the 17th.
The cut of the greens was not rolled since Friday and tour officials tried to prepare with easier pins for the second round.
Kisner said it was brutal and lost integrity of the tournament. We have 36 more holes to figure out who is playing the best.
The second round was to resume at 8:15 a.m. The third round would last until Monday morning. The tournament was likely to end Monday evening.
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