Justin Thomas carded one of the best rounds of his professional career on Friday, shooting a 10-under 62 in the second round of The Players Championship. The score tied the TPC Sawgrass record set by Tom Hoge two years ago.But Thomas' performance was historic for many other reasons. After the second round of The PLAYERS, the 31-year-old reached heights not even the legendary Tiger Woods had reached.According to golf statistician Justin Ray, Thomas' 11 birdies in a single round set a record for the event. The two-time major champion is also the only player to card multiple rounds with double-digit birdies at TPC Sawgrass, as he had 10 birdies in the third round of the 2015 edition.In addition, Thomas is one of only three players with multiple rounds of nine or more birdies at The PLAYERS Championship. He joins Brian Harman and Fred Couples on that list.Maybe most surprising is that with with Friday's score, Thomas extended his lead as the player with the most rounds of 62 or better in the last 40 years on the PGA Tour: Justin Thomas: 13 Kevin Na: 11 Tiger Woods: 9 Zach Johnson: 9 Ryan Palmer: 9 Another record set by Thomas on the day was the largest improvement from one round to the next. His 16-shot improvement (78-62) surpassed Kiradech Aphibarnrat's 15-shot improvement (84-69) in 2019. In the process, Thomas moved up no less than 105 places on the leaderboard.The 15-time PGA Tour victor even came close to breaking the course record, which he would have done with a par on the 18th. But he took a penalty stroke for sending his second shot into the water and tried to chip in for par. He came close, but the ball was left for a 22-inch putt for bogey, Thomas' only bogey of the day.After the extraordinary performance, Justin Thomas said it was one of the best results of his golf career:"Yeah, that was one of the best rounds I've played, for sure," he said. "I just got it -- mentally it was the biggest thing. I felt like I did an unbelievable job of just staying, keeping my eyes forward, keeping my blinders on, not looking backwards, forwards, anything like that."Thomas is playing in his 11th edition of The PLAYERS Championship. In 10 previous appearances, he has one win (2021) and one top-10 finish (2016). He has missed the cut only once (2024).The Louisville, Kentucky native has not won on the PGA Tour since 2022, after which he went into a slump for a couple of seasons. However, he has shown signs of recovery in 2025 with three top-10s in five starts, including a tie for second at The American Express.More Golf: Wyndham Clark Withdraws from The PLAYERS Amid Debacle on Front 9