It’s been said that TPC Sawgrass tests every facet of a player’s game, so it makes sense that one of the PGA Tour’s most complete talents finds himself two clear of the field entering the weekend at The Players.
It’s been a slow build for Ludvig Åberg to begin this year, but the 26-year-old Swede got off to a blazing start on Friday afternoon. Åberg played the Stadium Course’s first four holes in 5 under par before wrapping a two-eagle, front-nine 29 and eventually shooting 9-under 63 to push to 12 under, a pair ahead of Xander Schauffele.
Åberg’s 7-under front nine matched the tournament record held by Martin Kaymer (2014) while his 63 was a shot off the tournament low of 62 shared by Justin Thomas (2025) and Tom Hoge (2023).
“Super pleased with the way I was hitting it,” Åberg said afterward.
Looking at the stats, that tracks. Åberg gained over nine strokes on the field Friday, nearly half of that with his approach play. Though he was outside the top 40 in both strokes gained: off-the-tee and approach entering the week, Åberg shared that his swing has started coming together more in recent weeks.
He began his year by withdrawing after two rounds of The American Express with illness before missing the cut the next week at Torrey Pines. But since then he’s gone T-37 (Pebble), T-20 (Riviera) and then T-3 last week at Bay Hill.
“I saw some nice things over the weekend at Pebble in my game,” Åberg said. “I saw some nice things at Riv, even though I got off to a slow start in the tournament. Yeah, just kind of progressively getting better. I feel like I’ve understood a little bit more what’s important for me in my golf swing and kind of sticking to that, not necessarily trying to look at other ways around it, and keeping it very simple. 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.”
Åberg shot 3-under 69 in the tougher wave on Thursday morning before the rains came, softening things up, and the winds died down. Other than a flubbed chip that led to bogey at the par-4 15th hole, Åberg followed with a flawless Friday. He stuck his opening wedge shot to 3 feet, rolled in a 14-footer for eagle at the par-5 second and two holes later, got a 25-foot birdie putt to fall. He holed a chip for eagle from just outside a small bunker at the par-4 ninth, birdied both par-5s on the back and capped his stellar day with an 8-footer birdie make at the last.
This is Åberg’s fourth time with a solo 36-hole lead, first since the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open. He’s only converted once, though, at 2023 RSM Classic. At The Players, Åberg was eighth in his debut two years ago before missing last year’s cut.
Schauffele’s year has followed a similar trajectory with an opening missed cut at Farmers and just one top-10 finish entering the week. But Schauffele found something during a late-evening range session on Thursday with instructor Chris Como. The result was leading the field off the tee and ranking third on approach while carding eight birdies in a 7-under 65.
“I felt like I was in control and felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive,” said Schauffele, who owns two career runners-up at TPC Sawgrass, in 2018 and 2024.
Cameron Young is solo third at 9 under while Justin Thomas, a week after his rocky return from November back surgery at Bay Hill, shared fourth with Corey Conners at 8 under.
“It feels miles better,” said Thomas, who postes back-to-back 79s at API to miss the cut. “It’s a crazy game we play.”
Sepp Straka is the highest of the five co-first-round leaders on the leaderboard after 36 holes, sitting solo sixth at 7 under. Maverick McNealy and Lee Hodges dropped to T-7, Austin Smotherman is now T-10 and Sahith Theegala carded a 74 to drop to T-23.
Other than Collin Morikawa, who withdrew on his second hole Thursday morning with a back issue, the top 12 players in the world rankings will all play the weekend. No. 13 Ben Griffin was the highest-ranked player to miss the cut.
Scottie Scheffler stretched his PGA Tour-leading made-cut streak to 70 straight, birdieing No. 18 to shoot 73 and enter the weekend at 1 over and T-51.