This will annoy Austin Smotherman, who was tanking along at three under for his round but finishes off his front nine with a bogey - at a par five as well - which these pros absolutely hate doing.

Jacob Bridgeman knocks in his fourth straight par after three straight birdies from the second, so he's just slowed down a bit after that red-hot openeing.

He's right there though and after winning such a big event as the Genesis a few weeks back he won't be scared of taking on the big dogs around Sawgrass this weekend.

Having dropped a shot on the 12th, Justin Rose scoots through the 13th green off the tee.

That's a fairly hefty misjudgement but he judges the return beautifully, into four feet and tides up for a par.

Ludvig Aberg is just struggling to find a fairway at the moment and a tricky spot in the bunker leaves him needing to hole a 13 footer to save his par - but the cool Swede rolls in a beauty and that could be a huge boost for him going forward.

It's even more of a boost as Xander Schauffele then misses a birdie putt from a few yards closer to mean that Aberg's lead remains at two.

This leading pair have been given a ticking off for their pace of play, which I must say hasn't looked bad so far, and they've been in a few tricky spots, but it's a thorny issue in golf so PGA Tour officials are quite hot on it.

The greens are speeding up and Michael Thorbjornsen clips the edge of the cup with a birdie chance from 10 feet.

His English playing partner Tommy Fleetwood knocks in his first birdie since the second hole. That was all down to a wedge to almost gimme range.

Iain Carter
BBC golf correspondent at TPC Sawgrass

Justin Thomas is writing a seven on the card. And he walked off the green like you or I would, looking around and pointing to various points where he played from as he counted up the shots.

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Ouch, that's a stinker for Justin Thomas who was playing pretty nicely before a bogey on the fifth was followed by his meltdown on the seventh.

From the water, to the rough, to the rough on the other side, it's a golf hole any one of us would likely have at Sawgrass - and it's seen Thomas go tumbling down the leaderboard and out of contention.

Matt Fitzpatrick was looking in decent shape until he comes up short with his approach into the 10th.

That brings the sand into play and he can't get up and down for his par.

Brooks Koepka has had a bit of a nightmare at the 17th down the years at Sawgrass, but he hits a nice shot here to hit the green and then make his three.

The five-time major champion almost made an eagle on 16 but the birdie still moved him to six under and not too far away at all.

Matt Fitzpatrick is going along very nicely here. He launches his second into the greenside bunker on the par-five ninth and then splashes into two feet to ensure a birdie.

The Englishman's best finish at this event came in 2024, when he finished fifth at 16-under.

Could he go better this time around?

It's actually a good bogey for Ludvig Aberg as he rolls in a six footer for his five at the fourth hole.

The problem came off the tee for the Swede when he found the right rough, and after hacking it out he then played it too safe with his wedge and blew it 45 feet past the hole. So in the end a five was a bit of a result.

Absolute nightmare here for Justin Thomas on the par-four sixth after finding the water off the tee. His drop was still in thick rough so he just hacked it forward a few yards, then with his fourth shot he's fired it across the hole to thr rough on the opposite side, playing some army golf here.

And his fifth has just gone over the back of the green...

Tommy Fleetwood has made three consecutive pars and finds the heart of the par-three eighth with an iron off the tee.

In contrast his playing partner Michael Thorbjornsen zips into four feet off the back of three successive birdies.

The Englishman taps in after trickling a 30-foot right-to-left putt down to a 18 inches or so.

Thorbjornsen burns the edge of the cup with a tentative putt. That was a huge chance missed to get within three of the lead.

Xander Schauffele misses the green left on the third on the exact spot that you just cannot miss this green as he ends up in a tough bunker short sided.

It's only an average escape as well so that's a bogey for the two-time major champion.

What's with all threse hat-tricks? Michael Thorbjornsen is the latest man to pick up three birdies in a row with what seem like perfect scoring conditions out at TPC Sawgrass today.

A 23-foot birdie putt on the fifth kicks things off before then a sparkling approach to two feet on the seventh makes it three in a row.

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It comes around every year, but this year the PGA Tour made a big thing of The Players Championship possibly being a fifth men's major.

But what do you think? It's a brilliant event, with a stellar field on an iconic course, but should it have major status?

It's a bit of a scramble for Ludvig Aberg to make his par five on the second after visiting the right rough and a bunker.

Xander Schauffele also makes par after being off target with his second shot and then leaving 40 feet to get down in two from for a five.

Austin Smotherman is another man to knock in three straight birdies as he joins the cavalry charge moving up the leaderboard.

Smotherman's wife is expecting their third child right about now, but he has no plans to leave Sawgrass even if the new arrival comes during the tournament.

“My wife’s giving me the okay to play this week," said Smotherman.

"So just keep playing golf, go have a baby whenever the baby shows up. She’s not getting induced or anything, so we’re just kind of letting it roll.

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“I don’t know what she’s going to do. She doesn’t know if she’s going to try and contact me, contact my caddie, and then figure out if he relays the info or if I just play. We just we don’t know. I’m just playing golf. Yeah, yeah. The plan is to stay. Wild.”

You can tell it's their third child and not the first....

A shocker of a hole for Cam Young and Corey Conners on the par-three third.

The American finds the left greenside bunker and then scoots off the putting surface with his second meaning he spoils his card with a bogey.

Although it could have been worse. Canada's Conners also finds a sand trap and flies 40 feet past the hole with his second.

He then takes three with his putter to record a double. Ouch.

A nice approach to eight feet on the short par-four fourth hole from Justin Thomas and then a confident putt for a three moves him into that tie for third place on nine under.

A reminder that this is just Thomas' second tournament back from injury, and he shot 79-79 at Bay Hill in his first last week. This is some turnaround.