At the tpc sawgrass location, six notable players failed to reach the weekend at the 2026 Players Championship after dramatic swings on Thursday and Friday. Shane Lowry, the 2019 Open Champion and 2025 Ryder Cup hero, headed the list after a quadruple bogey on the 18th hole left him unable to recover. Other pre-tournament favorites either withdrew with injury or posted rounds that ended their weeks at the famed course.
Tpc Sawgrass Location: early shocks and leaderboard
The opening rounds produced immediate fallout at TPC Sawgrass. Ludvig Aberg and Xander Schauffele sit atop the board, while Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy barely made the cut and will play the weekend. Shane Lowry’s collapse came in two sharp moments: he was even par arriving at the 18th tee on Thursday and walked off at 4-over par after a quadruple bogey; that tee shot also marked the 1, 000th ball hit into the water on the finishing hole since 2003. Lowry’s late-round implosion left him well behind the field.
At the tpc sawgrass location the mix of history and difficulty reappeared in full force: a single hole shifted leaderboard fortunes, and late-day errors compounded into tournament-ending scores for several notable names.
Players who lost their weekend: notable exits and reasons
Several notable players’ weeks ended before Saturday for distinct reasons recorded over the two opening rounds. Collin Morikawa, listed as one of the pre-tournament favorites, tweaked his back on the second hole of his opening round and withdrew with the injury; his recent form included a win at Pebble Beach, a T7 at the Genesis and a runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Other exits were performance-related: one player opened with a 77 that proved too costly at a brutally difficult course; another had been playing strong early-season golf but never got going this week. A late withdrawal from a player who had skipped the prior week’s event also contributed to the list of notable absences.
Specific individual notes carried through Friday: English, the No. 16-ranked player in the world, had not missed a cut since the previous year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and had not finished worse than T28 in six starts this season until a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 18th — recorded as his ninth of the day — ended his week. Griffin, who arrived off a prolific previous season that included multiple wins and a Ryder Cup berth, has seen his play tail off and failed to advance. Other players on the list include names who showed recent form but were undone by either one bad hole or an inability to rebound over 36 holes.
Most of the PGA Tour’s big names still hold Saturday tee times, and the weekend field will be led by those who navigated Sawgrass’ opening tests. Expect the leaderboard to remain volatile as the final rounds unfold at this exact tpc sawgrass location, where one hole has again proven capable of reshaping the championship.
