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THE PLAYERS Championship: What they said after 36 holes at TPC Sawgrass

Quotes from halfway at the weather-hit tournament in Florida which will now go to a Monday finish after several severe disruptions.

The weather has been the main talking point so far at THE PLAYERS Championship in Florida.

Brutal conditions on Saturday blew plenty of the field off course but some managed to dig in and post under-par scores.

Just 48 players managed to complete two rounds before play was halted on Saturday due to darkness.

Here's what some of those (all from the original late-early part of the draw) said after finishing up.

Justin Thomas (69, 3-under 141)

"I'm thrilled with how I played and how I competed today. It was a very, very tough day, and I just stayed very patient and executed well.
"I just tried to hit as many greens as I possibly could today because I knew it's really hard to chip it close. It's really hard to make even two-, three-, four-footers with that wind.
"Especially all the par-3s, I'm like, just put this ball on the green, just get it on the ground. It's soft enough that it's not going to run away from you, and just two-putt and move on, and I was able to sprinkle in a couple of birdies."

Bubba Watson (68, 3-under 141)

"It was really good. It was one of those days you had to trust and you had to be committed to your shots, even if they go wild.
"The key for me, though, is making putts. When I can start making some putts, which I did today, that's really the key to any round for me.
"Yeah, obviously ball striking, I hit some wayward shots, maybe not because of me but because of the conditions, but I made the putts, and that's really what kept the whole round going all the time."

Dustin Johnson (73, 2-under 142)

"It was difficult. Yeah, obviously, it's really windy. It's just hard to judge the distance, but I felt like I played pretty well. Just played the par-5s terribly.
"Obviously birdied the last, but I doubled 16, which was playing easy, and bogeyed 2, which is probably two of the easiest holes we played all day, but played them 3-over.

"Other than that, I played them really well. I'm happy with where I'm sitting."

Daniel Berger (75, 2-under 142)

"It was nice to birdie that hole (17). I'm glad we didn't finish on that back nine with the cold starting to come in, but it was tough today for sure.
"I kept myself in the golf tournament, which is big today. It could have easily gone the other direction on the front nine, but I hung in there.
"Today was one of the toughest rounds I ever played. Every time I looked up, the ball was going further and further and away from the flagstick. Yeah, just happy to be done and get some rest."

Rory McIlroy (73, 2-over 146)

"It was very tough. The front nine was a little more sheltered so it probably didn't play quite as tough. But some of those holes on the back nine are so exposed, like 16, 17, 18, it's brutal out there. Hitting those tee shots on 17 and 18 and just keeping them dry and walking forward is nice.
"Obviously the double on 7 was very untimely. I thought if I birdied the last and got to 1-over, that should be good enough. I did everything I should have done on 9. I hit four good shots, but the putt just sort of didn't want to go in.
"Hopefully I've done enough. I mean, it just depends on the conditions tomorrow for the other guys."

Brooks Koepka (81, 9-over 153)

"Just a tough day. I think today everybody knew today was going to be extremely tough. You catch some gusts, and you play, I guess, the wrong shot, the wrong gust, and you make some numbers.
"You're talking about an extreme day today. If we were playing links golf, you could run everything up and keep it on the ground, just kind of chip, bunt, run everything, and you'd be alright.
"Today it's not meant to blow this hard normally. It's just one of those days."

Quotes from players who had an early/late draw

Those who had early tee-times on day one didn't finish their second rounds until Sunday. Here's what some of them said...

Tommy Fleetwood (73, 5-under 139)

"It was freezing. It was really, really cold this morning. Actually by the 13th tee, it was nice, it was a pretty nice day really. It was a nice morning. We were in the trees. You couldn't feel the wind much even though you knew it was blowing, and the sun warmed things up a little bit. But this morning was like as cold as I think I've ever played like a tour event for sure.
"Yeah, got off to kind of a ropey start. I didn't play too badly, just like up-and-downs I made on Thursday, I didn't make a couple early ones, and then it was nice to settle down and make a couple of birdies. Yeah, not bad."

Cameron Smith (71, 4-under 140)

"I made a couple of good bogey putts today, dodged a couple of bullets. I think this golf course just does that to you. There's always those five-, six-footers for bogey, and I just holed a lot of them today.
"To be honest with you, with how the conditions were yesterday, I was glad I had the day off. I think we got quite fortunate on that side of the draw, not to say it wasn't hard this morning, but yeah we definitely got a lucky one there."

Will Zalatoris (71, 4-under 140)

"Like I said, super fortunate to be in the wave that I was in. I kind of got off to a little bit of a rough start today, but just wasn't hitting any fairways and was hitting it pretty short, so that's not really a good combo.
"Yeah, it was nice to make a couple putts going in and kind of nice momentum for this afternoon's round."

READ MORE: THE PLAYERS Championship: The seven times when a Monday finish was needed

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