Anyone desirous to win The Players Championship this yr actually wanted to take benefit of the scoring situations the primary couple of days … as a result of the fellows that did have put a ways between themselves and the remainder of the sphere.
Two Ryder Cup stars who’ve struggled a bit in current months prime the event’s midpoint leaderboard: Ludvig Åberg at -12 and Xander Schauffele at -10. They put themselves in double figures beneath par the identical means: torrents of purple numbers. Schauffele carded eight birdies in a -7 spherical, whereas Åberg threw down two eagles and completed birdie-birdie to shut with a 63, one off the TPC Sawgrass course file.
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“Definitely for the most part I felt like I was in control,” Schauffele mentioned, “felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive.” Schauffele hit all 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens in regulation, a pleasant throwback to the 2024 season when he received his two majors.
That season, Schauffele famous, “was a year full of really good results, and right now I think we’re a little bit more focused on the process bit of it, and trying to make sure things are sort of ironed out and in a decent spot.”
Åberg has additionally slipped a bit from the highs of 2024, when he recorded a solo second and a T12 within the first Masters and U.S. Open he performed. On Friday, he torched the entrance 9 with a 29, and lasted all the best way till the fifteenth earlier than carding his first bogey — the final man within the subject to file one.
Also excessive on the leaderboard: Cam Young (-9), Corey Conners (-8), Sepp Straka (-7) and Justin Thomas, the 2021 champion. Thomas wanted simply three rounds to get again to his low-scoring methods after an extended damage layoff, and capped a second robust day with this kick-in eagle:
The two most up-to-date champions struggled for a second straight day and flirted with the reduce line. Rory McIlroy wanted a clutch birdie at the ninth gap, his 18th of the day, to get to +1 and keep safely contained in the +2 reduce line.
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“I’m happy to be here for the weekend. I’m happy to get two more runs at it,” McIlroy mentioned. “It would have sucked to be going home this afternoon, so to hang around and hopefully play two more days, that’s a win.”
Scottie Scheffler, in the meantime, struggled all afternoon, nonetheless unable to seek out fairways and letting his frustration bubble over all through the day:
Scheffler bogeyed 14 and 16 to place himself proper on the reduce line with two holes to play. Time to start out asking questions? Not but, nevertheless it’s time to start out fascinated with when it will likely be time.
Toughest gap of the day belonged to Tom Hoge, who had a quintuple (!) bogey at the seventh gap that appeared eminently relatable for just about anybody who’s ever tried to play golf:
Saturday and early Sunday are projected to be sunny and rain-free, which means the already treacherous TPC Sawgrass greens will solely get slicker. That leaves Schauffele and Åberg in a great place, although on no account a secure one.
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“We had sort of the easier wave yesterday with a little bit of rain, and then it softened the course,” Schauffele mentioned. “Today the greens were firming up a little bit. I think the course is just going to get firmer and firmer and firmer as long as we don’t get any more rain.”
The Players continues Saturday and wraps up Sunday.
