Spaun takes the lead on the chaotic day with the players

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida – JJ Spaun only had to watch the video freels around TPC Sawgrass to appreciate the chaos on Saturday in the player championship.

Will Zalatoris was bound for the tour and then his name had disappeared after an astonishing route of 9 over the last five holes. Lucas Glover fell back and then he was back and then slipped. A double Bogey-Eagle-Double-Bogey-Stretch will do.

So imagine Spaun's relief when his last putt fluctuated 360 degrees around the cup on a wild, windy, round day and fell around a par. He had a 2-little 70, the best score of the last 10 groups and a lead over Bud Cauley.

Spaun made his share of mistakes, just not as many and not too outrageous.

“I did really good quality shots from tea to green and just look like it and not really be in stressful situations,” said Spaun. “Hold the ball in front of me and mostly hold it in the short grass. I just tried to hit it close to pens, but only when we knew we had the right club and the right wind, and if not, we would just hit it on 30 feet and try to do one.

“I think this is the key to playing under really difficult conditions, especially in such a course.”

Which would not give so many others for it.

Cauley, whose body was crushed during the monument in 2018 in a car accident, took a big step towards a long recovery. He called two hours earlier – still in front of a large part of the wind – and ended with three birdies on his last four holes for a 66.

That brought him into the last group with a spaun and glover, the crazy end of which ended with a 71.

“It's pretty razor thin anyway,” said Glover. “And then add 25, 30 miles per hour with a few gusts, it shrinks things even more. I did a good job where I missed most of the day, and there were a few holes in which you just can't miss. “

Spaun is at 12th under 204. Glover and Alex Smalley are three back.

There was a lot of heartache, not the five rounds in the 80s, the worst of Emiliano Grillo. The Argentinian started the second round only five shots behind and ended 19 shots from the lead.

Zalatoris was briefly bound for the tour when he went the 14th tee. He played the last five holes in the 9-over-saving four-time bogy on the 14th, a double bait on the 15th, a ball in the water on the 17th for double bait and a bogey on the last. It added to a 78.

In the period of about an hour, he went back to 10 shots from a bound lead.

Rory McIlroy made Birdie on the last hole to save a 73 and maybe his chances, and only left him four shots.

“Most of the fallen shots were more of the green mistakes than from T-shirt-to-green,” said Mcilroy. “I felt that I hit the ball pretty well and checked my flight. Under no circumstances from the fact that the wind should blow tomorrow.

The two -time defending champion Scottie Scheffler was not so happy. He hung around and went closer until he got from the pine straw to a bunker on the left of Par-5 16. Fairway, then another bunker under a large tree and with a bogey.

He was a great range of great reach for Bogey on the 17th and threw his ball into the water. He met what he thought was a perfect wedge on the 18th, just to see how he rolled from the back of the green. He had a 72.

A year ago, Scheffler acted his last three holes in bird to get within five shots and win at 64. This time he was two of the last three and was seven behind.

Is that too much?

“I'm not really thinking about it at the moment,” he said. “I'm just a bit frustrated, but I hope to get out of the gates a little better tomorrow and turn things around.”

The prediction demanded more wind and enough rain. The PGA tour moved the tea Times to send the players to three sides this morning.

Akshay Bhatia, who shared the 36-hole lead with Min Woo Lee, fought a good fight after a miserable start and went from a birdie on the opening hole to a Bogy-Bogey-Double-Bogey-Stretch that spiraled him over the loader board. He shot 75 and still landed with one chance, four shots behind it. Lee Schoss 78.

Collin Morikawa had more slowly bleeding with eight bogeys, who sent him 77, and left eight shots behind.

The group at 7-little 209 included Patrick Cantlay and Danny Walker, who looked like it on Friday evening after a three-putt that looked as if it were costing the cut. But he made it onto the number, Ted often first before the wind arrived and released a 66.

Walker only came to the tournament on Thursday morning when Jason Day retired. Now he is in the mix with so many others and follows the $ 4.5 million price from a $ 25 million money exchange, which includes a five-year exception for the PGA tour.