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Days after ending useless final at Arnold Palmer Invitational, Justin Thomas pulls again in Players Championship

SportsMar 12, 2026
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Justin Thomas responded to last week’s struggles with a strong start at The Players Championship, opening with a four-under 68 to move into a tie for second after the first round at TPC Sawgrass.

The performance came just days after Justin Thomas finished at the bottom of the leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Playing his first tournament in about six months after returning from injury, he posted back-to-back rounds of 79 at Bay Hill and missed the cut.

On Thursday at Sawgrass, however, the two-time major champion looked far more comfortable. Speaking after the round, Justin Thomas said it felt good to begin a big tournament with momentum.

“Yeah, it felt great,” Thomas said. “Just feels great to get off to a great start at a big tournament, a tournament that I love. I always enjoy playing this place. I just feel like it’s just a fun course to play.”

Justin Thomas explained that last week’s outing helped him shake off the rust after a long layoff.

“I can’t necessarily say I’ve been playing well because last week was my first tournament in six months,” he said. “But I felt I was more than capable of doing that. Just was able to knock a little bit of rust off last week — a lot of rust off last week — and obviously felt a lot more comfortable today.”

The improvement was visible throughout the round. Justin Thomas opened with birdies on his first three holes and later added three more birdies over his final five holes. He dropped shots at the 17th and 18th finishing with a 68.

Reflecting on the difference from Bay Hill, Thomas said almost every part of his game was better.

“Literally everything. Actually, I don’t know. My bunker game and my chipping last week was pretty ridiculous for someone who shot 14 over par. But yeah, literally every single thing you could imagine I did quite a bit better,” he said.

Justin Thomas shot back to back 79s last week in his first event back from injury to miss the cut at Bay Hill. This week he’s shot an opening 4 under par 68 to be T2 at The Players Championship. He spoke about the difference in his game today: “Yeah, it felt great. Just feels

The number reflected that improvement. Justin Thomas gained around 2.5 strokes on the greens with all six of his birdie putts coming from inside 10 feet. He also ranked among the top players in the field off the tee.

The 2021 champion at TPC Sawgrass now looks to build on his opening round as he attempts to win The Players Championship for the second time.

When will Justin Thomas tee off for Round 2 at The Players Championship?

Justin Thomas will return to the course for the second round of the 2026 Players Championship on Friday afternoon. He is scheduled to tee off from the 1st hole at 1:42 p.m. (ET) alongside Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood.

The trio will once again play together after being grouped for the opening round at TPC Sawgrass.

Here are the complete Round 2 tee times for the 2026 Players Championship (ET):

Tee No. 1

  • 7:40 a.m. – Tom Hoge, Denny McCarthy, Nicolai Højgaard
  • 7:52 a.m. – Patrick Rodgers, Kevin Roy, Marco Penge
  • 8:04 a.m. – Chad Ramey, Alex Smalley, Pierceson Coody
  • 8:16 a.m. – Kurt Kitayama, Harry Hall, Stephan Jaeger
  • 8:28 a.m. – Keegan Bradley, David Ford, Chris Kirk
  • 8:40 a.m. – Andrew Novak, Nick Taylor, Wyndham Clark
  • 8:52 a.m. – Steven Fisk, William Mouw, Joe Highsmith
  • 9:04 a.m. – Cameron Young, Davis Thompson, Sam Burns
  • 9:16 a.m. – Nico Echavarria, Jason Day, Corey Conners
  • 9:28 a.m. – Matthieu Pavon, S.H. Kim, Austin Smotherman
  • 12:30 p.m. – Mackenzie Hughes, Eric Cole, Rico Hoey
  • 12:42 p.m. – Max Homa, Daniel Berger, Michael Thorbjornsen
  • 12:54 p.m. – Rasmus Højgaard, Danny Walker, Kristoffer Reitan
  • 1:06 p.m. – Jhonattan Vegas, Taylor Pendrith, Alex Noren
  • 1:18 p.m. – Akshay Bhatia, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau
  • 1:30 p.m. – Ludvig Åberg, Si Woo Kim
  • 1:42 p.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas
  • 1:54 p.m. – Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre
  • 2:06 p.m. – Aldrich Potgieter, Jake Knapp, Sungjae Im
  • 2:18 p.m. – Patton Kizzire, Seamus Power, Johnny Keefer

Tee No. 10

  • 7:40 a.m. – Lee Hodges, Andrew Putnam, Sam Stevens
  • 7:52 a.m. – Erik van Rooyen, Keith Mitchell, Michael Kim
  • 8:04 a.m. – Taylor Moore, Joel Dahmen, Ryo Hisatsune
  • 8:16 a.m. – Jacob Bridgeman, Ben Griffin, Adam Scott
  • 8:28 a.m. – J.J. Spaun, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry
  • 8:40 a.m. – Sahith Theegala, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth
  • 8:52 a.m. – Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama
  • 9:04 a.m. – Chris Gotterup, Justin Rose, Min Woo Lee
  • 9:16 a.m. – Brian Campbell, Karl Vilips, Aaron Rai
  • 9:28 a.m. – Matti Schmid, Max McGreevy, Takumi Kanaya
  • 9:40 a.m. – Zach Bauchou, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, A.J. Ewart
  • 12:30 p.m. – Mark Hubbard, Thorbjørn Olesen, Mac Meissner
  • 12:42 p.m. – Bud Cauley, Vince Whaley, Chandler Phillips
  • 12:54 p.m. – Emiliano Grillo, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Max Greyserman
  • 1:06 p.m. – Kevin Yu, Cam Davis, Gary Woodland
  • 1:18 p.m. – Ricky Castillo, Ryan Gerard, Patrick Cantlay
  • 1:30 p.m. – Adam Schenk, Garrick Higgo, Matt McCarty
  • 1:42 p.m. – Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Davis Riley
  • 1:54 p.m. – Sami Valimaki, Lucas Glover, Matt Fitzpatrick
  • 2:06 p.m. – Michael Brennan, Harris English, J.T. Poston
  • 2:18 p.m. – Haotong Li, Zecheng Dou, Jordan Smith