Players Championship: Windham Clarke leads, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy battle it out

U.S. Open champion Windham Clark shot his second 7-under 65 and holds a four-shot lead at the halfway point in the Players Championship.

Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor are at 10 under, with Matt Fitzpatrick and Maverick McNeely a further shot behind.

World number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler overcame a neck injury to improve to 8 under par.

Rory McIlroy had a mix of five birdies, four bogeys and one double bogey to drop to 6 under with a 73.

The world No. 2, who took the lead overnight along with Clark and Schauffele, is eight strokes behind the leader despite making 15 birdies in the first 36 holes. Clark had 16 birdies in the first two rounds.

McIlroy struggled to match the control he showed Thursday as he scrambled around the iconic sawgrass course.

He had three bogeys and three birdies in his first six holes, but another birdie on No. 9 was undone by a bogey on No. 12.

The Northern Irishman sank a 16-foot birdie putt in his next at-bat, but a wayward drive into the sand on the 14th meant he was hit two more times.

Despite his struggles, Scheffler showed remarkable resilience, posting a 69 and five birdies despite playing most of the round in discomfort.

The American player, who started on the 10th hole, said: “I hit a shot on the second hole, and I felt a little something in my neck.

“Then I tried to hit a tee shot on the 12th and I could barely get the club back at that point. So I went for treatment. It might have loosened up a little bit, but most of the day it was pretty bad. It was a lot of work.”

“I did everything I could to stay in the tournament, and hopefully I can ease up and have some normal swings.

“I didn't know if I could keep playing because of the way I walked the course and how my neck felt. So I had a good fight.”

The 28-year-old, who won last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational by five strokes, is aiming to become the first player to win back-to-back Players titles in the 50th running of the PGA Tour's flagship tournament.

But he will head into Saturday's third round of six ahead of Clark, who he won at Pebble Beach earlier this season.

Clark narrowly escaped with five birdies in six holes, then two more in the final four holes to lead the tournament.

“My iron play was very consistent and I made a couple of putts, but I felt really strong mentally after that. So I think all of that is why I’m where I am.” “I will,” he said. American.

Fitzpatrick, who was crowned the U.S. Open champion by Clark, made four birdies in six holes around the turn to move into the lead at 10 under and gain momentum into his opening round with a 66.

However, on the 13th hole, he hit his second shot into the water from deep rough and lost two shots. He birdied the final hole, the par-5 ninth, and posted a 69.

“You never know what's going to happen at the weekend, so you just have to be patient, keep doing what you're doing and go from there,” the Sheffield-born player said.

Olympic champion Schauffele followed up his opening 65 with a double-bogey on the par-5 11th when he fell into the water, then hit his second shot to 9 feet on the long 16th for a 69 that included an Eagle three.

Later in the day, Canadian Taylor was tied at 10 under par with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes for a 68.

British Open champion Brian Harman shot a 65 to move to 7 under.

The infamous 17th caused even more casualties when Bo Hosler hit his 1,000th ball in tournament history since moving to Sawgrass in 1982 into the water that nearly surrounds the par-3 green.

England's Justin Rose also fell for a foul on Hall. When he stood on the tee at 1 under, he was fighting for a spot, but he dropped two balls into the water and made a quadruple bogey on No. 7, making him 3 over.

Two players will return on Saturday to complete the second round after play was again restricted due to darkness, but both will have a chance to play, with all players of equal or higher level excluded. It has become.

That means Rose will join American duo Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in missing the final two rounds.

But Japan's Ryo Hisatsune tees off at level par on the final hole, the par-5 ninth, knowing he must at least make a birdie to qualify.

Canada's Ben Silverman is good at shooting outside. He's 1 over, but has played two strokes on No. 9, and he has to hole in from 109 yards for eagle to enter the weekend.