Two-time major champion Xander Schauffele finished with a flourish, making birdies on his last two holes to charge into an early one-shot lead in the second round of The Players Championship on Friday.
The world's 10th-ranked player, who started his second round on the back nine, rolled in a 38-foot putt at the par-3 eighth and then got up and down from just in front of the green at the par-5 ninth to card a sparkling 7-under 65 at TPC Sawgrass for a 10-under total of 134.
Schauffele was one shot ahead of Cameron Young, who carded a six-birdie 67.
Canada's Corey Conners, who eagled the par-5 ninth on his way to a 67, was another stroke back at 8-under. Austrian Sepp Straka (70), one of five players tied for the lead when the weather-delayed first round was completed earlier on Friday, was alone in fourth at 7-under.
"It's always easy to be aggressive from the fairway here," said Schauffele, who hit all 14 fairways on a sun-splashed day at TPC Sawgrass. "There's quite a few wedges if you're able to hit it in some sort of tight spots, which we were able to do today. Might as well take advantage of the greens being just a hair softer. But I think they're slowly firming up."
A 10-time winner on the PGA Tour, who clinched the PGA Championship and the Open Championship in 2024, Schauffele is seeking his first victory this year.
"I'm definitely hitting a lot of really good golf shots," said the 32-year-old, whose best finish this season was a runner-up spot at last month's Pebble Beach Pro-Am. "The 2024 season 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. After that, you go and compete."
World No 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, looking to shrug off a back injury that led to his withdrawal from last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, experienced another day of frustration with a 1-under 71.
The native of Northern Ireland opened with a 74 on Thursday after arriving at the course on the eve of the tournament without playing a practice round. He mixed three birdies with two bogeys in the second round to reach 1-over 145 and sit just one stroke inside the projected cutline.
"I wish I was further up the leaderboard," McIlroy said after ending his round with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 ninth. "I felt like I played well enough today to be up the leaderboard, I just couldn't get a putt to drop. I feel like I hit the ball a bit better today than I did yesterday so hopefully I've done enough to get into the weekend and have another two days at it."
Asked how his back was holding up, McIlroy replied: "It feels pretty much there. Not all the way there, but I feel like it's just progressively getting better each and every day."
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, bidding for a third victory at The Players Championship, was among the late starters on Friday after opening with an even-par 72.