Players Championship 2012: Contenders Sitting Atop Leaderboard Going into Day 3

It's all fine and dandy getting off to a fast start at the 2012 Players Championship, but it's how you finish that ultimately makes the difference.

There are plenty of golfers in contention heading into Day 3, but golf has a way of weeding out the contenders from the pretenders before long.

Here are three golfers currently sitting nicely on the leaderboard who I see being relevant down the stretch.

3. Zach Johnson

Zach Johnson may have slid down the world ranking to No. 32, but he's playing well at TPC Sawgrass and he won the Heritage in April. Beyond that, he finished 12th at the Players Championship last year and is still a very talented golfer. He's tied with Kevin Na and Matt Kuchar for the lead with an eight-under-par 136.

2. Matt Kuchar

Matt Kuchar is not only ranked No. 16 in the world, he tied for third place at the Masters this year, his best career finish at Augusta. He's an up-and-down golfer, but his score thus far bodes well for him, and he's had four top-10 finishes this year.

1. Adam Scott

Adam Scott has shot a six-under-par 138 through two rounds at the Players Championship. He's also coming off an eighth-place finish at Augusta. I like how he's golfing right now, and he has the potential to rise up the leaderboard down the stretch.

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