Corey Conners is having one. A fluffed chip cost him a shot on the par-five second and he then suffers another bogey on the third before stopping the rot on the fourth.

Justin Thomas plays a sublime approach, using the gradient on the green to propel his ball down towards the cup before knocking in a birdie putt.

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There's no long-range birdie from 20 feet away for Ludvig Aberg but a stress-free par to start the final round with the lead is always a decent way to begin.

Michael Thorbjornsen was a bit wayward off the tee but he still made his four safley enough.

Robert MacIntyre does the honours and taps in for a birdie on the fourth. He couldn't could he?

Tommy Fleetwood's hopes of really contending today were well and truly torpedoed on the 10th and 12th holes on Saturday, when he dropped four shots.

However, a birdie on the 11th means he now moves up into a tie for 18th and potential pay day of over £250,000.

Viktor Hovland famously once said "I suck at chipping" as his short game was so bad, but he's improved a ton since then as he shows here with a chip-in eagle on the second.

It's a thick, juicy lie below the green as well, but the contact is perfect and the ball pops up, lands soft and is tracking as soon as it hits the green - it was never anywhere else!

Hovland jumps up to 10 under and in second place.

Xander Schauffele and Robert MacIntyre both cashed in on the par-five second.

And now the Scot is into a foot on the fourth and surely a second birdie of the day. His American playing partner can count himself a little unlucky mind, with his ball resting in a fairway divot mark.

If Ludvig Aberg is nervous he doesn't look it, as he stands up on the first tee and unloads with a driver and hammers it 331 yards down the middle.

He only has 102 yards with a wedge for his second and it's OK, not brilliant, but an outside look at birdie and safe enough.

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Rory McIlroy says that "if Ludvig goes out and shoots a couple under he'll win" as he praised the Swede's temperament as he looks to try and convert this afternoon.

And what does McIlroy admire about the Swede?

"Pretty much everything. His pace of play. Once he gets over the ball he's really decisive. He's obviously got a beautiful swing. Looks like he plays with a lot of freedom.

"Watching a little bit of the golf yesterday afternoon, he's always smiling out there. He looks like he finds a lot of joy in playing the game, and it looks like him and Joe, his caddie, always have good conversations and a good laugh out there, and that's important, as well.

"He's pretty unflappable. He's so laid-back, like, ridiculously laid-back, which is a really good thing."

A great start for Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick as they attempt to chase down Ludvig Aberg.

The American and Englishman both attack the pin at the back of the opening hole with their approaches and get their rewards with putts from 15 and 12 feet respectively.

Both Brian Harman and Viktor Hovland make par on the opener - nothing silly but pretty steady stuff to start what could be a dramatic afternoon at Sawgrass.

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Both Ludvig Aberg and Michael Thorbjornsen came through the PGA Tour University route, which gives the top college stars a direct path to the PGA Tour proper.

Aberg topped the standings in 2023 and Thorbjornsen a year later, and to prove that this pathway works they're now in the final group at The Players Championship on Sunday.

"I was telling Joe [his caddie] walking up the last hole, I said, it looks like we're playing with Michael tomorrow, which will be fun," said our leader Aberg.

"He lives in the area too. We play some golf when we're home, and at some point when we were both in college it felt like we played every single tournament together.

"He's a great guy, good player, and he'll be coming out excited tomorrow to play. He'll be coming out hot and I'm going to have to respond and play some good golf."

Austin Smotherman birdies the opening hole to get off to a great start, with Sahith Theegala picking up a shot on the second as this American pair look to make an early move.

They're both in T6 and five shots off the lead, but with Ludvig Aberg out on his own all it takes is for one bad hole from him and it'll bring a huge number of plays right into the mix. So it's important for the chasing pack to keep pushing.

The Players Championship has the biggest purse ($25m) on offer of any event aside from the season-ending Tour Championship.

The winner at TPC Sawgrass will pocket $4.5m (£3.4m), which is also more than the highest prize on offer at a major $3.5m at the US Open.

A top-five finish (without ties) here is worth over $1m (£755,000) and a top-10 finish pays out $681,250 (£514,000) so basically it's life-changing stuff as JJ Spaun would testify to.

Runner-up to Rory McIlroy 12 months ago, Spaun collected the largest pay cheque of his career and spoke afterwards about how much it meant after losing, regaining and grinding to keep hold of his Tour card.

We all know what he then went on to achieve in June at the US Open.

Jacob Bridgeman has made another fast start at TPC Sawgrass - he was three under after four holes yesterday and he's had another three birdies in the opening four again today.

He's also made a bogey though so he's just two under for this stretch, but that moves him to nine under and in third place, just four off the lead.

England's Justin Rose has made a steady start today with three consecutive pars.

However, is this a sign he can pick up the pace? An exquisite wedge shot out of the fairway bunker at the fourth leaves him with a six-foot putt for birdie and in it drops.

We have an ace on the 13th.

Chad Ramey gets the first hole-in-one of the week at TPC Sawgrass as his ball finds the green and trickles down the slope before tumbling into the cup.

Wonderful stuff and it is the 33-year-old first ever ace on the PGA Tour.

Justin Thomas drops a shot on the opening hole for the second day running. The American finds the bunker with his second and can't salvage a four from there.

Far from an ideal start.

Image source, PGA Communications

The Florida weather is pretty unpredictable at this time of the year and as you can see that looks to be the case later today when rain and thunderstorms are potentially on the menu.

Could that mean a Monday finish? Let's hope not.

There have been a few, mind, in recent times including 12 months ago when Rory McIlroy beat JJ Spaun to the title in a play-off.

Anyone remember when Fred Funk claimed the biggest win of his career at the age of 48, also on a Monday, and in 2022, various weather delays meant the event finished on a Monday with Cameron Smith victorious.

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Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Sandy Lyle (Scotland) are the only two British winners of the Players Championship.

But could we have another this evening?

England's Matt Fitzpatrick will be hoping to banish memories of this double bogey on the 18th on when he gets going a7 17:30 GMT.

Had that not materialised his task of overturning Ludvig Aberg's five-shot lead on him and also leapfrogging Michael Thorbjornsen and Cameron Young would look far less daunting.

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre produced a superb round of 65 on Saturday and will likely need a repeat of those heroics if he is to apply pressure at the top of the leaderboard.

Will Scottie Scheffler launch a Sunday charge? No is the answer as a double bogey on the fourth hole of the day took all the wind out of his sails.

The world number one has picked up a birdie but at three under after seven he's way too far back. He'll just be looking to pick up as many shots as possible in the remainder of his round.