Rory McIlroy made the cut with a shot to spare at the Players Championship, but heads into the weekend trailing leader Ludvig Aberg by 13 shots.
Defending champion McIlroy, who has been struggling with a back injury, birdied his last hole to card a 71 as he reached the halfway stage on one-over par at TPC Sawgrass.
Aberg grabbed three birdies and an eagle in his first four holes, adding another eagle at the ninth as he went out in 29.
Another three birdies coming home, with a single dropped shot, saw the Swede card a 63 to reach 12-under par and establish a two-shot lead.
Xander Schauffele hit every fairway en route to a 65 and second place, one clear of fellow American Cameron Young, with Justin Thomas and Canada’s Corey Conners on eight-under par.
Sepp Straka was a shot further back with English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick among those on five-under par.
McIlroy was in good company fighting to beat the cut, with world number one Scottie Scheffler also grabbing a birdie at the last to finish on one-over par, one shot better than the cut line.
McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday before his third round and he said he felt “rusty” on Thursday after he laboured through his opening round.
He told Sky Sports: “I felt a little bit better. I would say if anything it was just I was struggling to trust everything was OK yesterday.
“I struggled a little bit on lies that were beneath my feet and stuff like that, but today I felt pretty good and felt like I hit the ball well. I really just couldn’t get a putt to drop. That was the issue.
“I tried my best, I grinded and made a good birdie at the last, hopefully to make the cut.
“Game feels good, I just went five or six days without really touching a club or doing anything so just getting my feels back a little.
“Hopefully another couple of days to get myself up the leaderboard. I’m 11 back at the minute, I’m not sure I’m going to contend for the title, but hopefully two good days and have a respectable finish.”
PA
