{"id":1255800,"date":"2025-03-15T05:25:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T05:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/?p=1255800"},"modified":"2025-03-17T07:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T07:03:28","slug":"players-championship-2025-r2-min-woo-lee-akshay-bhatia-leading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/players-championship-2025-r2-min-woo-lee-akshay-bhatia-leading\/","title":{"rendered":"Min Woo Lee & Akshay Bhatia leading at halfway mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Min Woo Lee stumbled at the final-hole with his only bogey of the day and closed with a 6-under 66 to reach 11-under and take a share of the lead at The Players Championship.<\/p>\n

“I just love this course. It just suits me so well,” said Lee. “The wind was a bit confusing today, but I really enjoy coming back here. I just love playing shots off tees and not hitting driver everywhere. Driver is a weapon of mine, but I love hitting that 2-iron everywhere, and if it’s a little firm, it kind of plays into my hands. I just love playing this course.”<\/p>\n

Lee holds his first career 36-hole lead\/co-lead on Tour<\/strong><\/a>. His previous best 36-hole position was T3 at the 2023 Players Championship where he finished T6.<\/p>\n

The Australian seeks his first PGA Tour win in his 55th start. His best finish so far was T2 at the 2024 Rocket Classic<\/strong><\/a> and Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

His best finish in five starts this season was T11 at the 2025 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches<\/strong><\/a>. He entered the week No. 59 in the FedExCup standings<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Akshay Bhatia made two bogeys for his 66 and share of the lead. He holds his third career 36-hole lead\/co-lead and is seeking his third title on Tour in his 77th start. He is 1-for-2 converting to victory having previously won the 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/valero-texas-open-2024-r4-dramatic-second-win-in-playoff-for-akshay-bhatia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Valero Texas Open<\/strong><\/a> and finished second at the 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/rocket-mortgage-classic-2024-r4-cam-davis-wins-for-second-time-in-four-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Rocket Classic<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The American has had two top-10 finishes in six starts this season, T9 at <a href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/genesis-invitational-2025-r4-ludvig-aberg-wins-second-pga-tour-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Genesis Invitational<\/strong><\/a> and 9th at the <a href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/mexico-open-2025-r4-brian-campbell-wins-first-pga-tour-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mexico Open at VidantaWorld<\/strong><\/a>. He entered week at No. 40 in the <a href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/fedex-cup-standings-10-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>FedExCup standings<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>“I think last week was a blessing in disguise almost to miss the cut because I was able to have my coach come back to Jupiter and I went a completely different route with my driver, went back to my older head, changed the shaft, and it just has been such a relief for me because I feel like the driver’s just kind of been the big thing holding me back.” said Bhatia.<\/p>\n<p>“So I do feel like a lot of these tee shots do fit my eye, and I just, I don’t really have much fear when I feel like I’m swinging it well, minus one shot today. So it’s a good feeling. This golf course, it’s one of the best I think we ever play. It takes a lot of strength to kind of just hit the shots that you need to.”<\/p>\n<p>18-hole co-leader J.J. Spaun of the United States made two bogeys and six birdies for a 68 and moved down into third place at 10-under.<\/p>\n<p>Making his 15th appearance at The Players Championship, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is tied in fourth place at 9-under after carding a 68 to post his second-lowest opening 36-hole score at this event (135), his lowest since winning in 2019 (132). He seeks to become the eighth multiple winner of The Players Championship.<\/p>\n<p>American Lucas Glover who held a share of the overnight lead shot a 70 and currently lies in T7 at 8-under.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Thomas of the United States opened with a 78 on Thursday and followed it up with a 10-under 62 matching the low 18-hole score shot by Tom Hoge in the third round in 2023, the low round of the day by three strokes. He currently lies in T29 at 4-under.<\/p>\n<p>Colombian Camillo Villegas who shared the overnight lead made three birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey at the par-5 11th for a 76 and moved down into T49 at 2-under.<\/p>\n<div id=\"content_link_1255763\" class=\"ct-div-block content-link_wrap\"><a class=\"ct-link content-link_image-wrap\" href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/tiger-woods-time-terminated\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/The-Open-2024-\u2013-Day-One-\u2013-Royal-Troon-9-scaled-e1721338820197-150x150.jpg\" class=\"content-link_image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Tiger Woods endured a frustrating first day at the Open\" srcset=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/The-Open-2024-\u2013-Day-One-\u2013-Royal-Troon-9-scaled-e1721338820197-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/The-Open-2024-\u2013-Day-One-\u2013-Royal-Troon-9-scaled-e1721338820197-60x60.jpg 60w, https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/The-Open-2024-\u2013-Day-One-\u2013-Royal-Troon-9-scaled-e1721338820197-250x250.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><div class=\"ct-div-block content-link_content\"><a class=\"ct-link\" href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/tiger-woods-time-terminated\/\"><h5 class=\"ct-headline content-link_title\"><strong>Related:<\/strong> Tiger’s time terminated<\/h5><\/a><div class=\"ct-text-block content-link_text\">When there is doubt - there is no doubt<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Players Championship R2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1248365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":33,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,29],"tags":[9735,2595,84,370,371],"class_list":["post-1255800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pga","category-the_tours","tag-akshay-bhatia","tag-min-woo-lee","tag-pga-tour","tag-the-players-championship","tag-tpc-sawgrass"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Players Championship R2 - Golf Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia are tied for the Players Championship lead at the halfway mark at TPC Sawgrass.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/players-championship-2025-r2-min-woo-lee-akshay-bhatia-leading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Min Woo Lee & Akshay Bhatia leading at halfway mark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia are tied for the Players Championship lead at the halfway mark at TPC Sawgrass.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/players-championship-2025-r2-min-woo-lee-akshay-bhatia-leading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Golf Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-15T05:25:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-17T07:03:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/english-championship2020-r3_lee2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"970\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"546\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Editorial Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Editorial Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/players-championship-2025-r2-min-woo-lee-akshay-bhatia-leading\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/players-championship-2025-r2-min-woo-lee-akshay-bhatia-leading\/\",\"name\":\"Players Championship R2 - 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