Lowry Clubhouse Leader as McIlroy Chases

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Rory McIlroy missed out on creating a piece of history in the Players Championship as Shane Lowry set the clubhouse target in the weather-affected second round at Sawgrass.

McIlroy carded seven birdies and an eagle in his first 16 holes on the Florida course and came to the par-five ninth, his final hole, needing a birdie to set a new course record of 62.

However, faced with a second shot from 271 yards, the four-time major winner surprisingly opted to lay up and then missed the green from 90 yards with his approach, before fluffing a chip and running up his only bogey of the day.

The resulting 64 left McIlroy three shots behind his potential Olympic team-mate Lowry, who added a 68 to his opening 65 to finish 11 under par, a shot ahead of Jonas Blixt, Alex Cejka and Cameron Tringale.

World number one Jason Day remained top of the leaderboard on 14 under but was unable to complete his round following a two-hour delay due to lightning in the area.

The US PGA Champion opting not to complete the 15th after play was eventually suspended due to darkness.

Lowry had started on the back nine and bogeyed 14 and birdied 16 before dumping his tee shot into the water on the 17th, but then holed out from 120 yards for only the sixth eagle in tournament history on the 18th.

Birdies on the second and third, either side of the delay, were followed by another on the fifth to leave the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational champion in contention for a second PGA Tour title.

"I got off to a bit of a shaky start today, I didn't feel that comfortable and then we were called in," said Lowry.

"To go back out there and make a couple of birdies and finish the round nicely was good."

Lowry revealed on Thursday that his poor form had prompted an "emergency" call to his coach Neil Manchip before play began, while he also benefited from a putting tip from Graeme McDowell.

"I was struggling to see the lines and he gave me a tip to stand a bit further from the ball and I've managed to hole a few putts the last couple of days, which is nice," Lowry added.

McIlroy (above) had earlier holed plenty of putts but never gave himself a chance to do so on the final hole after taking an unusually conservative approach.

"I've got it in my head with the ninth hole that any time that I have gone for the green it has not really worked out for me," he said. "I had a good number today and laid up with a nine iron.

"I probably had a two iron to the front of the green. In hindsight, with that pin being on the left side, anywhere on the right I probably had a chance to get up and down.

“I thought get it within 100 yards and take my chances from there and just didn't hit a great third shot and left myself in a difficult position."

American Colt Knost was a shot ahead of McIlroy after earlier also missing out on the course record, the world number 184 shooting 63 after three-putting the 18th from 40 feet.

Knost, who carded 10 birdies in 15 holes from the third, admitted nerves had contributed to missing his par putt on the 18th from four feet.

He said: "I hit a pretty good putt to be honest and it just lipped out on me.

"It was cool to be in the mix and knowing I could do something that no-one else has done but we have two more days to do that."

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Kuchar is The Players Champion

On Sunday at THE PLAYERS Championship Matt Kuchar avoided the big mistakes that slowed so many other contenders - starting with Kevin Na - and kept it out of the water on TPC Sawgrass to eliminate the kind of drama he didn't need. 

He closed with a 2-under 70 for a two-shot victory.

That famous smile, which he first showed the golf world as an amateur in 1998 competing on the biggest stages, was brighter than ever as Kuchar tapped in for par. He celebrated on the 18th green with his wife and two sons, and shared a hug and a high-five with his mother.

His parents moved to Ponte Vedra Beach and Kuchar stayed with them all week. Coming off the green, he said he was "about to buckle" after such a week. Just like his golf on a dangerous Stadium Course, he kept it together.

"It's such an amazing feeling -- playing amongst the game's best, to come out on top, to do it on Mother's Day ... it really is magical," Kuchar said.

Along with the pressure of trying to win, Na had to put up with some heckling. Already considered a slow player, he struggles to take the club back without practice swings and waggles, and over the ball he could hear fans saying, "Pull the trigger" or "Hit it."

"I backed off and they're booing me," Na said. "I said, `Look, guys, I backed off because of you guys.' ... But it is what it is. I also felt that a lot of people were turning towards me and pulling for me, which I really appreciate."

Kuchar won for only the fourth time in his career, and the first time since the 2010 Barclays when Martin Laird three-putted the last hole and lost in a playoff.

Laird made the strongest run on a cloudy, breezy afternoon, tying for the lead with this third straight birdie on No. 12. Laird nearly went in the water on the 18th, missed a 6-foot par putt for a 67 and wound up in a four-way tie for second.

Rickie Fowler, going for his second straight win, tried to make it interesting with a birdie on the island-green 17th to get within two shots. Kuchar watched from across the water on the 16th green, and then rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt to give him a three-shot lead going to the par-3 17th. Every shot matters standing on a tee and looking at an island. Kuchar found land, three-putted for bogey and made a regulation par at the end.

Fowler missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th and shot 70. Ben Curtis made a 10-foot birdie on the 18th for a 68, while Zach Johnson shot 68 to join the tie for second.

Luke Donald finished alone in sixth after a 66, not quite enough to replace Rory McIlroy at No. 1 in the world.

Tiger Woods shot 40 on his front nine and rallied for a 73, at least finishing THE PLAYERS Championship under par. That was the smallest of consolations. Far more alarming was that he tied for 40th, the first time in his career that he has finished no better than 40th in three straight tournaments. The streak began after a five-shot win at Bay Hill for his first PGA TOUR title in 30 months.

"Just keep working. Keep working," Woods said when asked what he could take out of the week.

Na had a three-shot lead early in the final round with a birdie on No. 2, but he fell apart quickly. There were waggles and a few whiffs as part of his painful pre-shot routine, but there were far too many shots in the wrong spot for him to have a chance. He made four bogeys in five holes to close out the front nine in 39, and his hopes ended with a tee shot into the water on the par-3 13th.

Na closed with a 76 to tie for seventh, five shots behind.

In the six years since THE PLAYERS Championship moved from March to May and featured faster conditions, the 54-hole leader has never won and has never shot better than 74 in the final round. The average score for the third-round leader since 2007 is now 76.3.

Few of the others faced a week like Na, especially hearing it from the fans.

"I deserve it," he said. "I mean, I'm being honest. But is it fair? No. You put an average guy in between those ropes, trust me, they won't even pull it back."

Kuchar opened with a tee shot into the woods and a bogey, though that was his only significant mistake until he could afford one with the three-putt at the 17th. The key shots turned out to be pars in the middle of his back nine.

With a one-shot lead and on the upper shelf of the green on the 13th, he two-putted from 60 feet to stay in the lead. His next tee shot went into the bunker, just over the water, on the 14th. He blasted that out from 181 yards, just over the bunker and safely onto the green to secure another par.

"Just doesn't seem like anything is going to upset him too much," Laird said. "That's obviously a good attitude to have when you're out here on Sunday on this golf course."

Kuchar finished on 13-under 275 and earned $1.71 million, the largest payoff in golf. He goes to career-best No. 5 in the world ranking, and more importantly, to No. 3 in the Ryder Cup standings.

Curtis, who started the season without a full PGA TOUR card, now has three top 5s in the last month, including a win at the Texas Open. He was slowed by a double bogey on the par-3 eighth, and simply couldn't catch up.

Even though Laird is the only player who actually tied for the lead at one point, Fowler generated the biggest buzz in his all-orange attire and free swinging ways. He got in the mix with two birdies in the opening four holes, only to take a double bogey on No. 5 and a bogey on the seventh. Even so, he ran off four birdies after that never went away until missing the short birdie at the end.

"The last few holes were a lot of fun," Fowler said. "It's a rush out there. Get yourself in contention Sunday at THE PLAYERS, it's a lot of fun."

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Poulter Sets Early Sawgrass Pace

Ian Poulter set the early clubhouse pace with an opening round of seven-under 65 in the Players Championship.

The Englishman carded his career-low Sawgrass round with eight birdies and nine single putts from the ninth.

He is one shot clear of American Blake Adams (66) and two ahead of Kevin Na (67) and Ben Crane (67).

Tigers Woods again struggled, a week after missing the cut, and carded a scrappy two-over 74, while Rickie Fowler ended on level par after a 72.

Poulter, runner-up to Swede Henrik Stenson three years ago, fired four birdies from the ninth and six in his last 10 holes.

"I played lovely," said the Englishman. "It is a good golf course. I do like tough golf courses. I generally play them well; whether it focuses my mind a bit more, I don't know. It is a proper test of golf. I'm excited to see what happens over the weekend."

Poulter admits he is playing with a "huge weight off his mind" after finally seeing completion of the palatial new house he has been building on the shores of Lake Nona in Florida.

"It was brutal from start to finish," he said. "There were a lot of interesting hiccups along the way, but I'm glad to say they are all behind me, and we are going to spend that first night in there on Sunday."

Woods, the 14-time major champion, opened on the 10th hole with a bogey and went out in one-over 37 with three bogeys and two birdies, including holing a 13-foot putt at the infamous island green 17th hole.

The former world number one, now seventh in the rankings, dropped further shots at the first and third, either side of a birdie on the second, before parring his way home.

"It wasn't certainly the most positive start," Woods said. "Any kind of momentum that I would build, I would shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole. Just one of those days.

"I didn't get a lot out of that round. It should have been probably one or two under par."

The 36-year-old, who broke a 17-month win drought with a victory at Bay Hill in March, came to the Players after his eighth career missed cut and was in danger of failing to reach the weekend once again.

"I just didn't score. I hit decent shots in there and just got some of the worst lies," Woods said. "It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots."

Woods won the 2001 Players but has struggled at the course in recent years, withdrawing last year after nine holes with left knee pain and in 2010 he withdrew with 12 holes left in the final round due to a neck injury

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