Players Championship 2017: Louis Oosthuizen, Kyle Stanley Co-Lead After 2 Rounds

Louis Oosthuizen and Kyle Stanley carded matching rounds of six-under 66 Friday at the Players Championship to end the second round as co-leaders.

Oosthuizen and Stanley each moved six spots up the leaderboard Friday and sit at nine-under for the tournament at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Here is a look at the current leaderboard entering the weekend:

While Oosthuizen and Stanley tied for the best round of the day, Oosthuizen's was slightly more impressive, as he produced a spotless scorecard with six birdies and no bogeys.

It didn't come without some grit for the South African, as evidenced by this shot out of the woods on No. 1 to set up a short birdie putt, courtesy of the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:

ESPN's Jason Sobel commented on Oosthuizen's red-hot round and ascent to the top of the leaderboard:

Although Oosthuizen and Stanley are currently the players to beat, there are several golfers within striking distance who performed strongly Friday as well.

Among them is American J.B. Holmes, who is all alone in third place after he supplemented a four-under 68 Thursday with a three-under 69 in the second round.

Holmes disappointingly closed with back-to-back bogeys, but he was on point for most of the day with approach shots, such as this one on No. 4:

One of the most unexpected golfers in contention is 54-year-old Vijay Singh, who is in fourth place at six-under by virtue of a four-under 68 Friday.

The former Masters and PGA Championship winner had just one bogey in the second round and had his putter working throughout, as seen on this long birdie make from No. 5, courtesy of PGA Tour Champions:

According to Justin Ray of GolfChannel.com, it has been well over a decade since Singh last performed so well in the second round of the Players Championship:

If he can keep up his stellar play and make up ground on Oosthuizen and Stanley, he has a chance to enter the record books, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Some of the names in the mix are quite surprising considering the star-studded field of the Players Championship featuring many of the world's top players.

The bulk of them struggled, however, with Jordan Spieth as the prime example.

The two-time major champion shot three-over Friday, which put him at four-under for the tournament and forced him to miss the cut at the Players Championship for the third straight year.

Even Spieth's highlights included some frustration, as he chipped in for par on No. 4, but only after flubbing a chip before that:

A double-bogey on No. 17 after hitting the ball in the water was the final nail in the coffin for Spieth in terms of his time at TPC Sawgrass.

Phil Mickelson also found the drink on the 17th, which forced him to settle for an even-par day and a two-under mark on the tournament.

Jason Day also sits at two-under along with Adam Scott and Henrik Stenson, while Hideki Matsuyama is one-under and Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are all even.