Where the world's top 3 stand — in game and mind — after 36 holes together at The Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – At the turn of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, TPC Sawgrass has proven again the virtues of an eclectic leaderboard.

The Stadium Course has a storied history of bringing the best out of both the superstar and journeyman with unrivaled equality, with Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa currently sharing the top of the marque with the likes of J.J. Spaun and Jacob Bridgeman. It’s the secret sauce of The Players Championship, but Friday under perfect spring skies, the real narrative went no deeper than the 8:24 a.m. three-ball of Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy and Xander Schauffele – Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world, respectively.

Thirty-six holes into the major championship season – let’s end the debate; The Players is a major in every way except name – it’s worth checking on golf’s current Big 3, starting with the top dog.

For the second consecutive day, Scheffler proved that he’s not in the mood as he continues to tinker his way towards next month’s Masters.

“Well, I'm still right here, so, don't need to get back anywhere. I'm right here,” he said when asked about “being frustrated at getting back to where” he was last year.

“As far as the frustration, yeah, like for instance the last two days I felt like I could have scored a lot better. The amount of good putts I hit that just went right around the hole. … But still doing a lot of good things, hitting a lot of good putts and looking forward to trying to climb the leaderboard over the weekend.”

Following off-season surgery on his right hand, Scheffler has appeared rusty at times this season, albeit with otherwise respectable finishes in his four starts. Last week at Bay Hill, he appeared to turn a corner with his ball-striking, finishing second in the field in strokes gained: tee to green, but he wasn’t sharp on the greens.

After shooting 69-72 at TPC Sawgrass, he was tied for 16^th when he finished his round, with similar results – he’s third in the field in strokes gained: approach the green but 82^nd in putting.

Given his dominance the last two years, any assessment of his current game is going to be relatively twisted, but by that standard, which can certainly be an unrealistic benchmark, he still has room for improvement.

McIlroy’s week is far more straightforward. The 2019 Players champion has been his dominant self off the tee, picking up nearly two shots on the field, and he was tied fourth following a second-round 68.

The driver woes that slowed him last week at Bay Hill, the byproduct of some ill-timed equipment experimentation, are a thing of the past and his use of a soft fade to the “safe” side of the Stadium Course’s fairways (even when he's missed them) has been nothing short of inspired.

“Hit it much better off the tee. I think I hit more fairways in six holes today than I did in 18 yesterday,” said McIlroy, who hit 11 of 14 fairways on Day 2 following just four fairways hit Thursday. “I got it in play much better and then from there was able to give myself some opportunities and obviously make some birdies early. Couldn't quite continue that on to the back nine, but it was much better off the tee.”

THE PLAYERS Championship 2025 - Round Two

Xander Schauffele ready to ignore doctor’s orders to fix ‘pretty bad’ game

Just six rounds into his comeback from a rib injury, Schauffele’s frustration seemed to boil over as he described a game that, right now, is “pretty bad.”

Ryan Lavner,

Ryan Lavner,

Which brings us to the curious outlier. Schauffele assessed his play at TPC Sawgrass as “pretty gross” and added that his game “feels pretty bad.”

Rounds of 72-71 have given Schauffele little to cheer about, and there was no aspect of his game that escaped his wrath: “Not hitting it close enough, to duffing chips, to missing every fairway, to hitting fairways to missing greens,” he said. He ranked outside the top 35 in every major statistical category and will begin the weekend at least 10 shots back.

When asked if he was being a little tough on himself, he had no interest in moral victories: “I think I'm being just fine on myself,” he said.

The Players is Schauffele’s third start of the year after being slowed with a rib injury but it is clear that of the Big 3, he has the most work to do as the major championship season gets underway.

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Where the world's top 3 stand — in game and mind — after 36 holes together at The Players

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