Aberg sets Players pace as McIlroy and Scheffler toil

The Players Championship, round two leaderboard

-12 L Aberg (Swe); -10 X Schauffele (US); -9 C Young (US); -8 J Thomas (US), C Conners (Can)

Selected: -7 S Straka (Aut); -5 T Fleetwood (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), V Hovland (Nor); -4 J Rose (Eng); -3 J Spieth (US); Level R MacIntyre (Sco); +1 R McIlroy (NI), S Scheffler (US)

Full leaderboard

Ludvig Aberg shot a sublime nine-under-par 63 to surge into the halfway lead of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.

The Swede had two chip-in eagles in his second round as he took advantage of benign conditions to reach 12 under par, two clear of Xander Schauffele, who earlier posted a similarly scintillating 65.

The world's top two, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, both arrived at the PGA Tour's flagship event seeking to equal Jack Nicklaus' record of three victories but ended Friday relieved to be around for the weekend.

Defending champion McIlroy, who overcame a back injury to play this week, tapped in a birdie putt on the ninth, his last hole, to post a 71 for a one-over total.

An unusually erratic Scheffler, who won this tournament in 2023 and 2024, also birdied his final hole as he posted a 73 to join McIlroy on one over.

England's challenge is led by Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick, who are both on five under.

Fleetwood mixed birdies with bogeys throughout the day before registering an eagle three on the 16th for a second successive round as he signed for a 70.

Yorkshireman Fitzpatrick carded a 69 but looked frustrated after missing a short putt on his last hole that would have got him to six under.

Justin Rose fired a 68 to climb to four under, while Scotland's Robert MacIntyre ended the day as he started it, at level par after a 72.

Ireland's Shane Lowry and English quartet Harry Hall, Aaron Rai, Marco Penge and Jordan Smith all missed the cut, which came at two over par with the top 65, plus ties, making it through.

Northern Ireland's McIlroy, who said he was feeling "rusty" in round one after several days without picking up a club, said he "hit the ball better" in round two.

"I played well enough to be up the leaderboard, I just couldn't get a putt to drop," added the world number two, who missed seven birdie attempts from inside 20 feet.

He only arrived at the course on Wednesday afternoon after opting to stay at home to receive treatment on the injury that caused him to withdraw midway through the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

That limited his practice time to chipping and putting on half a dozen holes, rather than extensive work on his long game.

When asked by BBC Sport how much that reduced preparation had hindered him, he replied: "On a golf course like this, even though we've been coming back here for nearly two decades, you need to get a feel for the greens and how they're rolling and reacting, and I didn't get a chance to do that.

"It's almost like [Thursday] was my practice round and [Friday] everything felt a little more comfortable.

"If I had have missed the cut, two less tournament rounds going into Augusta [for the Masters in four weeks] wouldn't have been ideal so I would have had to look at the schedule and maybe adjusted a little, but getting these two extra rounds in is a big deal."

Scheffler's usual metronomic accuracy was again missing, leaving him regularly hacking out of the five-inch deep rough that borders the fairways and surrounds greens.

He cut a frustrated figure when dropping a shot on the 14th to slide to one over par, mumbling to himself on the green after missing the par putt.

The four-time major winner then incredibly three-putted from 12 feet on the 16th, turning a makeable birdie chance into a bogey.

But he closed with two excellent shots on the tough 18th to set up a nine-foot birdie putt that tumbled into the hole.

There were many fewer dramas for Aberg and McIlroy's playing partner Schauffele.

Aberg, who lives locally and has Sawgrass as his home course, had an eagle and three birdies in his opening four holes to leap up the leaderboard and a second chip-in eagle, on the par-five ninth, saw him complete the front nine in 29 shots.

A fluffed wedge shot from the rough cost him his first bogey of the tournament on the 15th, but he responded with birdies on the long 16th and tricky 18th to close out a sensational round.

"I've seen the golf course in probably every wind possible, which I know this week we're going to have some different winds," said the 26-year-old, who added that he had not played the course before this week this year.

"Is there an advantage to it? Maybe. But you still have to hit the shots.

"I love the course because it's right in front of you. It's very straightforward, but you still have to do it."

Two-time major winner Schauffele was equally impressive, hitting every fairway in a terrific display of ball-striking as he posted eight birdies and one bogey.

"I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive," said the American, who has twice finished runner-up at this tournament.

"It's always easy to be aggressive from the fairway and take advantage of the greens being just a hair softer. But I think they're slowly firming up."

Schauffele's fellow American Cameron Young is on nine under after a 67.

Canadian Corey Conners holed a 102-yard wedge for an eagle three on the ninth, as he also carded a 67 that lifted him to eight under.

Conners was joined on that number late on by 2021 Players champion Justin Thomas, who birdied the last for a second round of 68.

His good friend Jordan Spieth also made a positive move up the leaderboard with a run of five successive birdies midway through his round.

But he said his finish "stinks" after posting a double-bogey for the second day running. He called golf a "weird game" after signing for a 68 that left him at three under.

Finally, spare a thought for Tom Hoge - the joint course record holder after shooting a 62 in 2023 - who hacked his way down the par-four seventh in the manner of a high-handicap club golfer as he slipped from one under to four over.

The American hit his tee shot into the water, topped his third shot, shanked the next, thrashed around in the rough, splashed out of a bunker and missed a five-foot putt as he registered a quintuple-bogey nine.