A fatal shooting near TPC Sawgrass meant that fans were delayed from entering the property before play got under way on day three of the Players Championship.

St Johns County Sheriff's Office said two people were shot and killed at 22:30 local time on Friday, less than a mile from the course in Florida.

The suspect, who has been named as Christian Barrios, fled on to the course before being arrested in Nassau County at about 08:00 on Saturday after a car chase, according to police.

Sheriff Robert Hardwick said Barrios "made contact" with employees at TPC Sawgrass during his attempted escape.

Gates at Sawgrass were due to open for fans at 07:30 but entry was delayed until 09:00, with the PGA citing "operational considerations" as the reason for their decision.

Third-round play at the PGA Tour's flagship event began on time.

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Keegan Bradley might not have fancied his chances of sticking around for the weekend when he shot a five-over 77 on Thursday in a round that started with him finding a cart path and bush off the opening tee.

But the 39-year-old American redeemed himself in the second round with a superb 66 to give himself plenty of breathing space when the cut line was being drawn up.

Having been ranked 11th in the world and well in the conversation to be the first playing-captain at the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963, Bradley's form has tailed off dramatically this term, missing three cuts in five starts on the PGA Tour with a tied-29th his best finish.

He also arrived at Ponte Vedra Beach ranked 111th in strokes gained overall and 156th on the greens.

And while he says the numbers do not reflect his golf he admitted that the United States' loss and events at Bethpage Black were still weighing heavy.

"It's been a little difficult. I'm still heartbroken from the Ryder Cup. So trying my best to separate myself and move on, but it's hard. I think about it a lot. I think about the guys a lot, and I'm still in the process of getting past all that," he said.

"Unless you're a captain of the Ryder Cup team you just have no idea what goes into it and the emotional toll that it takes on you. I think like a lot of guys that do it, they're basically done playing. I'm the first person to have to sort of deal with this, get back out there, try to be one of the best players in the world and make the next team.

"So I'm still navigating how to do that. But it's on my mind. I think any Ryder Cup captain that loses would like to do it again, I would imagine."

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Scotland's Robert MacIntyre is having a day of days as he heads on to the 18th tee looking for a fourth consecutive birdie.

He almost aced the spectacular island hole a few minutes back and has knocked in nine birdies today in a magical third round to put himself sort of in the mix after starting the day at level par.

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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?

When it comes to three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, you just never know quite what to expect.

The American has a knack putting himself into contention and then falling away in rounds that have more ups and downs than the big dipper rollercoaster.

And it one moment could sum that up aptly it was on Friday when after four consecutive birdies, he turned to fans on the par-five second hole and said, “did anyone see where that went?” after he hooked his tee shot and hit a tree.

Remarkably he somehow then holed a 50-foot putt for a fifth straight birdie but inexplicably double bogeyed his final hole for the second day running.

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"It's not quite there yet, but it's like close enough to where I can do what I did today for a while," Spieth said, following the second round.

"It just kind of stinks because to finish like that, I would have - some days you wonder if you shot one stroke worse but you finished with a birdie if you would actually be happier. It's a weird deal, weird game.

"I made a 7 today, and it's just a bit of a bummer to finish that way, right. They don't tell the story of how I'm really playing; they were just two swings that I just needed to miss on the other side."

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World number one Scottie Scheffler on his much improved round today after a tough first two days:

"I was a little sharper today than I was the first two days. I felt like I was swinging it better each day of the tournament. Today hit a few more fairways and was able to give myself a few more looks for birdie."

And on what's pleased him the most about his better round today:

"I think with the way I hit it the first couple days, to kind of have the attitude that I did and the fight that I did. When I look at tournaments I'm not thinking about winning, I'm thinking about approaching things the right way.

"I did my best to stay committed and I did a good job I think of keeping the right attitude and keeping my head on straight in order to grind out a couple rounds that were difficult.

"And then I shot a nice round today as well. So overall I think I've been in a good spot with how my attitude and commitment has been to my shots. So that's, for me that's a good week."

Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick, were both on five under and in a tie for 10th when the third round got under way earlier today, meaning they were the highest placed British players on the leaderboard.

Yorkshireman Fitzpatrick carded a 69 but looked frustrated after missing a short putt on his last hole that would have got him to six under in the second round.

However, he has not had to wait long to gain a stroke knocking in a birdie putt from over 20 feet on his opening hole on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Fleetwood opened with a par on Saturday and then drained a long putt up the slope from off the back off the second to reach the same score.

Birdies on the third and sixth hole have also helped Justin Rose jump up the leaderboard to six under alongside his compatriots.

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World number one Scottie Scheffler’s biggest strength is arguably his laser-like iron play.

However, so far this season it is the area of his game that probably needs a little attention given he ranks 88th on the PGA Tour for strokes gained.

And that form plus driver troubles has meant he has not looked like the bloke who won back-to-back titles on this patch in 2023 and 2024.

He followed an opening round 72 with a one-over 73 on Friday to sit some 13 shots adrift of Ludvig Aberg at the top of the leaderboard, but this season he's made a habit of weekend charges and it looks like the same again.

Scheffler carded a bogey-free round of five-under-par 67 today to go from one over to four under, still way off the pace but in T22 he'll look to go low again tomorrow.

Just in case you are wondering about timings...

Some of the biggest names are already back in the clubhouse, others are currently out on the course and the leaders are still to get under way.

18:15 - Justin Thomas & Sepp Straka

18:25 - Cameron Young & Corey Conners

18:35 - Ludvig Åberg & Xander Schauffele

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Welcome to our coverage of the third round of the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

The Stadium Course is very much renowned golf architect Pete Dye at his very best.

Widely regarded as golf's unofficial 'fifth major' the prestige attached to playing and winning here is off the scale.

This tournament also opens the door to major season, with all four of the sport's biggest events (The Masters, US PGA Championship, US Open and the Open Championship) following in the next four months.

With the largest prize fund of any golf tournament, the field contains (most of) the world's best players.

Oh and we haven't even mentioned the iconic 17th hole yet either but we'll see more of that later.