Ludvig Aberg aces Sawgrass with 63
to take 2-shot lead at Players as Scheffler narrowly makes cut
[March 14, 2026]
By DOUG FERGUSON
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ludvig Aberg had a dream start that
carried him to a 9-under 63 and a two-shot lead Friday in The
Players Championship. Scottie Scheffler had a clutch finish, but
only to avoid missing the cut.
Aberg was 5 under through his opening four holes and motored his way
around the TPC Sawgrass with one amazing shot after another. He
chipped in twice, for birdie on No. 4 and for eagle on the par-5
ninth for a 29 to tie the front-nine record on the Stadium Course.
Even on the one chip he muffed, he limited the damage by holing an
8-foot putt for bogey.
A final birdie — the Swede made it look so easy — gave him a
two-shot margin over Xander Schauffele, who hit all 14 fairways in
his round of 65.
“I think my mind is very good when it’s simple, and when things are
very easy, and that’s what I’ve felt like I’ve been able to do over
the last couple of weeks,” Aberg said.
He was at 12-under 132 on the TPC Sawgrass he occasionally calls
home, though Aberg had not played the Stadium Course this year until
a practice round Tuesday. He chose Ponte Vedra Beach as home after
finishing at Texas Tech.
The stress came late in the day with Scheffler, the world's No. 1
player who has the longest current cut streak on the PGA Tour at 69.
He missed two birdie chances and then had into trouble in the rough
on the 14th hole for a bogey. Then, he missed a 30-inch par putt on
the par-5 16th.
That put him at 2 over, still having to face the island green and
the hardest hole at Sawgrass.
Scheffler found land on the 17th for par. Standing on the 18th tee,
he was 14 shots out of the lead and anything but par or better would
have sent him home from a tournament on the weekend for the first
time since August 2022.
He drilled 3-wood down the middle, hit his approach to 8 feet and
made birdie for a 73.
Also making the cut with a few nervous moments was Rory McIlroy,
whose back is getting better by the day but whose putter is ailing.
McIlroy birdied the par-5 ninth at the end of his 71 to make sure
he'd be playing the weekend. He and Scheffler, Nos. 1 and 2 in the
world, were at 1-over 145.
Schauffele's lone bogey came on a careless three-putt bogey on the
par-3 13th, his fourth hole of the day, when he missed a putt just
over 2 feet. The rest of his round was rock solid, and the two-time
major champion is starting to build some momentum.
He wasn't aware he hit every fairway until it was mentioned to him.
“Definitely nice to hit all of them, especially on this property,”
Schauffele said. “For the most part I felt like I was in control and
felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive.”
Sawgrass allowed for that on a gorgeous day of sunshine, a light
wind and greens that were receptive, ideal for scoring on a course
that provides low rounds for those who avoided big trouble.
[to top of second column] |
Xander Schauffele hits off the 10th tee during the second round of
The Players Championship golf tournament Friday, March 13, 2026, in
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Cameron Young, who contended at the Arnold Palmer
Invitational last week, had a 67 and was three shots behind. Young
is a big talent who finally broke through for his first PGA Tour
title last summer, and then was America's best in a losing Ryder Cup
cause in his home state of New York.
The Players has been a mystery to him, though. He has yet to finish
in the top 50 the three times in four years that he made the cut.
But he was dialed in on a course he described as “tricky.”
“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,” Young said. “The
holes where we’re strictly just trying to get it in the fairway ...
I didn’t hit all of them, but I made a bunch of really good golf
swings. And I feel like that kind of wins out over here.”
Justin Thomas followed his 79-79 return from back surgery at Bay
Hill with a 68-68 start at The Players. He was at 8-under 136, along
with Corey Conners (67).
The highlight for Thomas was following a bad miss left of the green
on the par-5 11th — the pin was to the left — and hitting a perfect
pitch-and-run into the cup for eagle.
“Pretty sick chip,” Thomas said. “Not one I necessarily expect to
get up-and-down all the time. But I have pretty good belief in my
short game, and when you’re in the fairway, you have a lot more
control of the ball. Just trying to visualize it and see it and hit
my spot, and luckily the hole got in the way. It was nice to steal
one there.”
He played alongside Scheffler and saw him endure the final two holes
with the cut at stake. Thomas has been on the cut line, and he knows
Sawgrass plenty well.
“If you’re on the cut line and you’re standing on 17, if you hit it
in the water, you’re all but done,” Thomas said. “Then the same kind
of goes for 18 on the tee shot. It’s every bit as hard as trying to
win a golf tournament.”
What he saw from Scheffler was some timing issues, but nothing he
found alarming.
“He's still hitting shots that not many people on planet earth can
hit in the same rounds,” Thomas said. “It’s just golf. He’s been
hitting it pretty much where he wants within like a blanket size for
what seems like two or three years. He’s still had a pretty damned
good year.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
