Players Championship 2012: Surprising Contenders Who Will Fade on Weekend

While big names like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were struggling to gain any momentum during the Players Championship, some lesser-known golfers were making charges up the leaderboard. Weekend play at a marquee event like the Players is a completely different animal, however.

Let's take a look at three of players who have played surprisingly well so far, but won't be able to keep up with the pace over the weekend.

Harris English (-7)

English isn't a popular name among mainstream fans, but it's not from a lack of playing. The Players Championship already marks his 14th event of the season, as he's been finding a tournament to play basically every weekend.

In all of those events, he has just one top-10 finish. That doesn't bode well for his chances of staying near the top of the leaderboard, especially against an elite field. It's tough to remain calm when names like Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald are chasing you.

Give credit to English for continuing to grind it out despite shaky results. Making it to the weekend should be viewed as a nice accomplishment for him.

Brian Davis (-6)

After a slow start to the season that seen Davis miss three cuts in his first four events, he has started to turn things around lately. He entered the Players on a positive note after finishing ninth at the Wells Fargo Championship last week.

The biggest concern for Davis will be his poor play on Sunday. He has only broken 70 once in the final round of tournaments this season. With the way TPC Sawgrass has been playing over the first couple days, that won't be enough to keep up with the leaders.

Based on that trend, he might be able to hang around for a while in Round 3, but by tournament's end, he won't be in the mix any longer.

Kevin Stadler (-5)

Stadler was able to string together back-to-back solid rounds to start a tournament for the first time in two months to give himself a chance heading into the weekend. He only has one top-five finish all season, however.

When you are talking about events like the Players, where the field is deep and the course is tough, players with more experience near the top usually take advantage on the weekend. Stadler probably hasn't felt the type of pressure he'll face over the next few days.

Even though it's nice to see Stadler getting his game back on track heading into the summer, don't expect him to take home the hardware on Sunday.