Low scores were on the menu on Friday at TPC Sawgrass. The heavy rain from Thursday kept the course fairly soft and receptive, and with the winds never picking up, the best players in the world were able to attack the course and get on the front foot in Round 2 at the 2026 Players Championship.

No one did that better than Ludvig Åberg, as the young Swedish star caught fire early and never let up, posting a 9-under 63 that was one off the course record and grabbed him the solo lead at 12 under. Åberg started his round as well as one possibly could, making three birdies and an eagle in his first four holes to fly out of the gates and into contention.

He cooled off a touch from there with four straight pars, as Åberg and Si Woo Kim were playing as the only twosome on the golf course after Collin Morikawa withdrew early on Thursday with a back injury. While the long waits on each tee box could throw many players out of their rhythm, Åberg never seemed bothered by the start-and-stop nature of the round; he just kept attacking a gettable TPC Sawgrass.

On the 9th hole, he found the rough around the bunker short of the par 5 in two, and with his feet in the bunker, he popped the ball up perfectly and rolled it in for an eagle.

That matched the front-nine scoring record at The Players, a 7-under 29, and Åberg could start thinking about the course record of 62. He smartly made his way through the tough start to the back with some patience, finally making his first bogey of the tournament on the 15th after finding the thick rough left of the green. He bounced back quickly with a birdie on the 16th after a 354-yard drive, then got a bonus on the challenging 18th, stuffing his approach and cleaning up for a closing birdie.

With that performance, Åberg pulled two ahead of Xander Schauffele, who posted the low score of the early wave with a 7-under 65 that temporarily moved him into the solo lead at 10 under.

Åberg and Schauffele were far from the only golfers who racked up circles on their scorecards. Five players shot a 66 or better on Friday with another eight posting a 67 or 68 to climb the leaderboard.

The question entering Moving Day is whether the course evolves over the weekend; if it remains this receptive after the rain from Thursday, there could be even more volatility across the final 36 holes. However, if the course firms up as the PGA Tour desires — and especially if winds pick up to make it play even tougher — those who got after it on Friday will be in prime position as rounds in the mid-60s will be extremely hard to come by.

2026 Players Championship leaderboard breakdown, Round 2

1. Ludvig Åberg (-11): It really was one of the best rounds of golf one will see around TPC Sawgrass. Åberg, who seemed to find something at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, was back in that rhythm where it looks like there’s no way he could ever hit a bad shot. Even his lone bogey of the tournament to this point was fairly impressive, as he flubbed a chip out of the thick rough, jammed his next one almost 8 feet by the hole but still managed to make the putt to limit the damage and stay on track. The only concern for Åberg is that the aggressive style that paid huge dividends on a receptive playing surface on Friday could put him in some danger if the course toughens over the weekend. Even so, he’s put himself in front with a bit of a cushion to make a mistake or two and still win with his ability to make birdies and eagles.

2. Xander Schauffele (-10): It was difficult to imagine anyone could play better than Schauffele on Friday until Åberg went out in the afternoon and torched the place. Xander barely put a foot wrong all day, also making just one bogey on his fourth hole (par-3 13th). His iron play continues to impress, and he looks in total control of his golf ball heading into the weekend. That should keep him in contention all the way through Sunday afternoon, as he looks to reassert himself as one of the top dogs on the PGA Tour after a lean 2025.

3. Cameron Young (-9): Young continues to stripe it this week, sitting among the top 10 in strokes gained off the tee and on approach. That’s the combo for success at Sawgrass, and if he can get the putter a little bit hotter on the weekend, he’ll be a serious threat with the way he can flight it and shape it.

T4. Justin Thomas, Corey Conners (-8): Conners got off to a heater like Åberg early with five birdies in his first six holes and eagled the ninth to go out in 30. He couldn’t quite keep it together with a 37 on the back, but his ball-striking makes him a threat on this course. Thomas got off to a slow but steady start with seven straight pars before making birdie on the long par-3 8th. He added a chip-in eagle on the 11th and then closed strong with birdies on Nos. 16 and 18 to get back into the top 5 and stay close enough to Åberg to feel like he’s got a real shot on the weekend.

T6. Sepp Straka (-7):  Straka put together a solid round yet again to stay up on the first page of the leaderboard. The question for him is whether he has the firepower to go low enough if this remains a birdie-fest, but with his ball-striking, if the course firms up and the winds make it play tough, he could keep shooting under par rounds and stay in the mix through the weekend.

T8. Lee Hodges, Jacob Bridgeman, Maverick McNealy (-6): McNealy and Hodges played fine with 71s but couldn’t stay hot after being part of the lead after Thursday. Bridgeman, meanwhile, continues his stellar play in 2026 and fired a 68 to get into the top 10.

T10. Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Matt Fitzpatrick, Michael Thorbjornsen and Austin Smotherman (-5): Fleetwood never got it going on Friday but still got in the house in red figures thanks to an eagle on No. 16 from just off the front. Hovland, Fitzpatrick and Henley all had it lower than this at one point before cooling off a bit on the back side. Harman, meanwhile, matched Åberg for the low round of the day with a 64 to move from off the cut line into contention, with Thorbjornsen doing similarly with a 65.

T23. Jordan Spieth and four others (-3): Spieth shot a 4-under 68 despite a bogey on his first hole (No. 10) and a double bogey on his last (No. 9). It could’ve been a special round as he got on an absolute heater with five straight birdies from No. 16 to No. 2, but he was left to rue what he left out there after the late stumble.

T51. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and 10 others (+1): It’s not where anyone expected to find the world’s top two players tied after the second round, but despite not having anywhere close to their A-games this week, both clawed their way into the weekend. They’re each fighting misses off the tee — McIlroy left, Scheffler right — and struggling to put themselves in positions to attack the course the way the leaders have been. Add in some short-game and putting woes, and you find two elite golfers scratching out rounds in the 70s on back-to-back days.

However, when they needed it most on Friday, they found the shots. McIlroy hit the 9th in two thanks to a pair of mammoth shots and nearly holed the eagle putt for a tap-in birdie to safely make it inside the cut. Scheffler finally found a fairway by pulling a 3 wood on No. 18, flirting with the water to leave an ideal approach, which he stuffed inside 8 feet and rolled in for birdie to also secure his spot on the weekend. Scheffler is 13+ strokes back entering the weekend for the first time since the 2023 Open Championship.

Notable players who missed the cut

• Jake Knapp (+3)
• Sungjae Im (+3)
• Rasmus Højgaard (+3)
• Ben Griffin (+4)
• Shane Lowry (+5)
• Joel Dahmen (+6)
• Harris English (+6)
• Max Greyserman (+9)

While there were low scores out there, plenty of players still struggled with the Stadium Course this week. Greyserman might be the most shocking of these scores, as he was -5 through nine holes to start his first round before imploding on the back side and never got it turned around on Friday.