Players Championship 2017 Leaderboard: Live Updates, Top Storylines for Saturday
The leaderboard for the 2017 Players Championship doesn't look the way anyone would have predicted, and it certainly isn't lacking for drama with two days of golf remaining.
Louis Oosthuizen and Kyle Stanley shared the lead after the second round at nine-under par. They have been on identical paths thus far with opening round scores of 69 followed by 66 in the second round.
Vijay Singh has been the most pleasant surprise through 36 holes. The 54-year-old ended Friday alone in second place after shooting a 68, his best score since the final round of the Sony Open in January.
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Here's the live leaderboard update as the third round continues at the Players Championship:
Saturday Storylines
Oosthuizen, Stanley Fight History
Oosthuizen has had a successful career on the European Tour circuit with eight wins, though his last one came at the Handa Perth International in February 2016.
It's been a different story for the South African native on the PGA Tour. His lone victory on the biggest stage in professional golf came at the 2010 British Open. That's a good feather to have in the cap, but it also highlights another problem he's had: winning on American soil.
In 15 years as a professional golfer, Oosthuizen has never won a tournament in the United States. Beyond trying to that particular monkey off his back, Justin Ray of the Golf Channel pointed out another rare list he can join with a victory:
The key for Oosthuizen has been avoiding big mistakes. He's only shot one bogey through two rounds, and even when it's looked like trouble was coming, he's been able to work his way around it with some brilliant shots.
Stanley is also fighting a long drought of his own. The 29-year-old from Washington has one career win on the PGA Tour at the Phoenix Open in 2012. He does have two top-10 finishes this season, most recently at the Shell Houston Open last month.
Unlike Oosthuizen, Stanley has been more hot and cold on his way to a share of the lead at the TPC Sawgrass. His first round included seven birdies and four bogeys, then on Friday he had a run on the back nine with five birdies and two bogeys.
Speaking after the second round, Stanley has noticed a change in his game going back to last summer that has set him up for this weekend in Florida, via Alec Brezinski of the Sporting News:
"Starting back in August, things have kind of started to click again. But yeah, I mean, went a couple years there where it was pretty disappointing, but you know, you've just got to keep working hard. You never really quite know when it's going to show up or pay off. But I've been pretty consistent about what I've been doing practice wise and off the golf course. I feel like I've been working on a lot of the right things. It seems to be coming together a little bit this year."
The stats support Stanley's claim that he's playing much better, per Ray:
If Stanley can cut down on his bogeys in the third round, he's been so good at getting birdies that it wouldn't be a surprise to see him post a number in the low-60s and get some breathing room heading into Sunday.
Long-term history hasn't been particularly kind to either Oosthuizen or Stanley, but both golfers have been so good in different ways this weekend that their time in the spotlight is approaching.
Singh's Surge
To say Singh is a surprise presence on the leaderboard would be an understatement. He hasn't made the cut in a PGA Tour event since the Sony Open, a span of seven tournaments, and only played two of 15 rounds under par during that stretch.
At 54 years old, Singh certainly isn't the same golfer who was ranked No. 1 in the world at a time when Tiger Woods was still at his peak.
He's also at a spot on the leaderboard at the Players Championship no one else his age has ever been, per Ray:
Per ESPN Stats & Info, Singh would also become the oldest winner in PGA Tour history if he continues his march up the leaderboard this weekend.
As part of his 68 in the second round, Singh was doing everything right. He wasn't crushing the ball off the tee, averaging 279.2 yards, but he made it work with a driving accuracy of 64.3 percent, hitting 83.3 percent of greens in regulation and gaining 1.28 strokes with the putter, per PGATour.com.
More good news for Singh is he's made it past his worst scoring rounds of the season without incident. Even though it's a limited sample size due to all of his missed cuts, his two lowest-scoring rounds on average are the third (71.3) and fourth (69.5), per PGATour.com.
Odds and recent history suggest Singh won't be able to keep up with the field for 36 more holes. Most golf legends don't get that one last huge win, like Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters at 46, but there are rare occasions when things line up perfectly.
Off The Pace
The stars haven't made it out for the Players Championship, at least to this point. Jordan Spieth went home after missing the cut, though that's become a common occurrence. This marks the third straight year he hasn't been around for the weekend at this tournament.
Other marquee golfers like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson have a lot of ground to make up if they want to be a factor.
Mickelson has the best score after 36 holes at two-under par. Johnson and McIlroy are both at even par, leaving them nine shots off the pace.
Among that trio, Johnson seems to be the most likely candidate to post a low number on Saturday. He's been the best player on tour this season with three wins and almost added a fourth last week at the Wells Fargo Championship, with back-to-back rounds of 67 after narrowly making the cut with a 75 in the second round.
The third round has been Johnson's bread and butter this season with a scoring average of 67, per PGATour.com.
McIlroy's physical health makes him an unpredictable wild card for the next two rounds. He said after shooting 71 in the second round that he would undergo an MRI after the tournament on his ailing back.
“It’s OK, it’s manageable," McIlroy said, per Ewan Murray of The Guardian. "It’s not obviously 100 percent but it’s good enough to get myself around here for the next couple of days. I’m going for an MRI scan on Monday just to make sure it’s not serious and then I’ll see what we do from there."
Mickelson blew a golden opportunity for a special round on Friday. Lefty shot a 33 on the front nine with three birdies and no bogeys, but he hit three bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine that left him with an even-par 72 overall.
It's been that kind of tournament for a lot of the best players in the world, at least to this point. There's still time to close the gap with the leaders, but it will require two flawless rounds of golf for Mickelson, Johnson, McIlroy or Jason Day, who is tied with Mickelson at two under, to pull it off.
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