Justin Rose is motoring.

Birdies either side of the turn lift the former US Open champion into a tie for fifth, four shots off the lead.

Jacob Bridgeman, who held off Rory McIlroy to win the Genesis Invitational last month, has just turned on the afterburners with three straight birdies early in his third round.

He stuck in a 28-foot putt on the second for a two and then stuck his approach to seven feet on the fourth and he's quickly moved up into a tie for third.

Matt Fitzpatrick's progress stalled a little earlier when he bogeyed the third after opening up with back-to-back birdies.

But what an iron shot that is on the seventh...it's probably only a wedge for the Englishman from 150 yards but he zips in to under two feet from the flag and then drops in another birdie.

That's lovely from Justin Rose on the 596-yard par-five ninth. The Englishman lands this third inside six feet of the flag and then rolls in his birdie putt to get to three under today.

Cameron Young hits a wild one left off the second tee and is pretty much in bother all the way down to the dance floor.

Corey Conners takes the more conventional route and both end up with pars, albeit Young's has plenty to do with a superb putt from 18 feet to keep his card blemish free early doors.

We talked about Sepp Straka's short game earlier, and he's done it again as he chips in from off the right of the third green, 45 feet and pops it into the hole for birdie!

Justin Thomas used his short game to pick up his birdie on the second, and although the radar's off when he chips again on the third he rolls in the par putt.

A bit scrappy from both of our final pairing, with Ludvig Aberg needing a solid lag putt to get down in two from 40 feet away, while Xander Schauffele was nowhere near as good so had to knock in an eight footer for par

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Not that you’d be able to tell given some of the scoring at the top of the leaderboard but there have been are a couple of things that have made conditions slightly trickier than normal over the first two days.

The putting surfaces get firmer throughout the day and are immediately noticeable due to the brownish hue appearance on many of them.

At the start of play on Thursday the rough was up to four inches and with no mowing of that planned it is likely to be slightly longer over the weekend.

So basically driving accuracy will be key, as any of the players who have found the longer stuff down the left of the fourth of fifth, in their first or second rounds, would vouch for.

Brian Harman, the 2023 Open champion, has made three birdies in his first five holes to make a jump up the leaderboard. The left hander has also carded a bogey in an eventful start to his third round.

Two bogeys to start for this pair - Sepp Straka found the rough off the tee while Justin Thomas found the rough with his second, and it cost both men a shot.

Tommy Fleetwood pays for his poor approach into the fourth. He just left himself with way too much to do there and had no control chopping out of the rough.

Ludvig Aberg made two eagles on Friday as he powered into contention at TPC Sawgrass.

Brooks Koepka was just building up some momentum with three straight birdies around the turn, but a missed five footer for par gives him his second bogey of the day to take some of the air out of his tyres.

He's still five under for the tournament though as he continues to get used to life back on the PGA Tour after his return from LIV Golf.

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre drops oin a 10-foot putt for his par on the 18th to sign for a seven-under 65.

That's the left-hander's lowest ever round at TPC Sawgrass and it lifts him from a tie for 42nd into a tie for fifth.

Imagine getting to player one of the PGA Tour's flagship events on your home patch?

Sweden's Ludvig Aberg relocated to Ponte Vedra Beach in November 2024 with his girlfriend and produced a sublime round of 63 on Friday to take the halfway lead in the Players Championship.

"I play here every now and then. I've seen the golf course in probably every wind possible, which I know this week we're going to have some different winds. Is there an advantage to it? Maybe," he said.

"Sawgrass is also a golf course where you have to execute golf shots, and I love the golf course because it's right in front of you. It's very straightforward, but you still have to do it. Is there an advantage? Maybe. But you still have to hit the shots.

"Before the Tuesday practice round I hadn't played here since before New Year's. But I like to get out because, tee to green, it's an unbelievable golf course, so I always like to get out here every now and then.

"I haven't been too much lately. I haven't really been here. But I always try to play it if I'm home for a little bit."

That's a head-scratching one for Tommy Fleetwood who dumps his approach into the rough to the right of the fourth green.

It means the Englishman, is faced with a tough chip on and that drifts 15 feet past the flag.

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The lowest winning score here though was back in 1994 when the 'Great White Shark', Greg Norman, shot an incredible 24 under par.

But the way Ludvig Aberg is going that could be under threat come Sunday. The Swede opened with a three-under 69 and was simply awesome on Friday.

Seven under before the turn, the 26-year-old was playing golf from the gods and eventually signed for a nine-under 63, that included two eagles and was one stroke shy of the course record.

Having finished in a tie for third at Bay Hill recently, it would be no surprise if Aberg was stood with the winner's trophy come Sunday evening, on a track he knows incredibly well, albeit there is a long way to go.

This time 12 months ago, Rory McIlroy was on his way to winning the Players for the second time before going on to complete a career Grand Slam at the Masters.

However, this time around the situation has been very different as the Northern Irishman's ability to even defend his title was in serious doubt due to a back injury sustained at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week.

And having had virtually zero perparation the five-time major winner shot a 74 on Thursday and scraped under the cut mark with a one-under 71 on Friday.

He followed that up today with a level par 72 and couldn't really get anything going on the greens, meaning Sunday will be just about trying to continue to sharpen up his game prior to the trip to Augusta National next month.

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Xander Schauffele hit 14 out of 14 fairways on his way to signing for a seven-under 65 on Friday.

The American, who won both of his major titles in 2024, struggled during 2025, suffering a loss of form after being sidelined with a rib injury.

However, on this evidence his game once again appears to be trending in the right direction and a late evening practice session with his swing coach Chris Como, on Thursday, clearly reaped dividends.

"For the most part I felt like I was in control and felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive," said Schauffele.

"I saw Chris before the sun went down, and tried to get some sort of feel to go with. I felt like it was close. I hit a lot of really good iron shots on Thursday and if I'm doing that, I know the driver and sort of longer stuff isn't too far off.

"I'm definitely hitting a lot of really good golf shots. I think even earlier in this year I started hitting a lot of good golf shots again."

Justin Thomas and Sepp Straka tee off as the leading players begin their third rounds.

2021 champion Thomas produced one of the best shot-shaping clinics you'll see when he won around here in tough conditions - and he's played really well in just his second event back after injury.

Straka has been a scrambling machine so far, missing 15 greens but getting up and down all 15 times - the wedge master at Sawgrass so far.