AFTER OPENING DAY two with a bogey, Rory McIlroy was in flying form moving into the weekend of the Players Championship in Sawgrass as a 65 has given him a share of the lead. McIlroy joined Tommy Fleetwood on -12 for the tournament thanks to a brilliant response to his early setback as he went on a charge with four birdies through holes eight to 12 before leaping firmly into contention with his eagle on 16. With his putter working nicely, McIlroy tied for the lead with his sixth birdie of the day on 17 and he and Fleetwood sit three ahead of Jim Furyk, Brian Harmon and Ian Poulter on -9 before they tee off as a pair in round three at 18.40 (Irish time) on Saturday Unfortunately, Shane Lowry won’t be among those in action over the weekend after he missed the cut with today’s round of 74. The cut line was -1 for the weekend and Lowry was +1 as he took on the 18th tee, where he hit water off the tee to seal his fate before he finished on a double bogey. Seamus Power found a rhythm after his 74 on Thursday, shooting eight birdies to card a sizzling 67. He sits at -3 as Saturday approaches.<doc-sep>Tiger Woods, left, and Patrick Reed, right, enjoy a laugh at the 3trd tee box during he first round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, May 3, 2018. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/TNS via Getty Images) Here are the tee times for Round 2 of the 2019 edition of The Players Championship from TPC Sawgrass. With the first round of the 2019 edition of The Players Championship in the books, here’s a look at Friday’s Round 2 tee times at TPC Sawgrass. The Players Championship 2019 Round 2 tee times Morning groups 7:40 a.m. 1st tee: Charley Hoffman, Luke List, Kelly Kraft 10th tee: Brian Stuard, Chez Reavie, Patrick Rodgers 7:50 a.m. 1st tee: Vaughn Taylor, Nick Taylor, J.T. Poston 10th tee: Danny Lee, Jason Kokrak, Scott Langley 8:01 a.m. 1st tee: Alex Noren, Richy Werenski, Dominic Bozzelli 10th tee: Aaron Baddeley, Branden Grace, John Huh 8:11 a.m. 1st tee: Andrew Putnam, Gary Woodland, Russell Knox 10th tee: J.B. Holmes, Jason Dufner, Russell Henley 8:22 a.m. 1st tee: Keegan Bradley, Andrew Landry, Si Woo Kim 10th tee: Brandt Snedeker, Troy Merritt, Jimmy Walker 8:32 a.m. 1st tee: Kyle Stanley, Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner 10th tee: Tiger Woods, Webb Simpson, Patrick Reed 8:43 a.m. 1st tee: Hideki Matsuyama, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink 10th tee: Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer 8:53 a.m. 1st tee: Satoshi Kodaira, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk 10th tee: Francesco Molinari, Jason Day, Tony Finau 9:04 a.m. 1st tee: Martin Trainer, Kevin Na, Jhonattan Vegas 10th tee: Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth 9:14 a.m. 1st tee: Emiliano Grillo, Shane Lowry, Martin Laird 10th tee: Bud Cauley, Sam Saunders, Matthew Fitzpatrick 9:25 a.m. 1st tee: Ryan Moore, J.J. Spaun, C.T. Pan 10th tee: Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Sung Kang, Tyler Duncan 9:35 a.m. 1st tee: Denny McCarthy, Wyndham Clark, Lucas Bjerregaard 10th tee: Anirban Lahiri, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Ryan Blaum Afternoon groups 12:35 p.m. 1st tee: Chesson Hadley, Michael Thompson, Corey Conners 10th tee: Charl Schwartzel, Tyrrell Hatton, Thorbjorn Olesen 12:45 p.m. 1st tee: Scott Brown, Byeong Hun An, Beau Hossler 10th tee: Lucas Glover, Louis Oosthuizen, Talor Gooch 12:56 p.m. 1st tee: Ryan Palmer, Trey Mullinax, Sungjae Im 10th tee: Chris Kirk, Brian Gay, Matt Wallace 1:06 p.m. 1st tee: Ted Potter, Jr., Patton Kizzire, Brendan Steele 10th tee: Charles Howell III, Aaron Wise, Scott Piercy 1:17 p.m. 1st tee: Keith Mitchell, Austin Cook, Tommy Fleetwood 10th tee: Adam Long, Danny Willett, Vijay Singh 1:27 p.m. 1st tee: Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas 10th tee: Cameron Champ, Michael Kim, Cameron Smith 1:38 p.m. 1st tee: Bryson DeChambeau, Bubba Watson, Billy Horschel 10th tee: Marc Leishman, Ian Poulter, Adam Hadwin 1:48 p.m. 1st tee: Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia 10th tee: Kevin Tway, Grayson Murray, Brian Harman 1:59 p.m. 1st tee: Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Rory McIlroy 10th tee: Brice Garnett, Patrick Cantlay, Ryan Armour 2:09 p.m. 1st tee: Harold Varner III, Sam Ryder, Haotong Li 10th tee: Ollie Schniederjans, Abraham Ancer, Seamus Power 2:20 p.m. 1st tee: Alex Cejka, Tom Hoge, Brandon Harkins 10th tee: Kevin Streelman, Harris English, Peter Uihlein 2:30 p.m. 1st tee: Scott Stallings, Rory Sabbatini, Joel Dahmen 10th tee: Nick Watney, Bronson Burgoon, Eddie Pepperell For more from The Players Championship, make sure to follow FanSided and stay tuned to our golf hub for all the latest news and results.<doc-sep>The diabolical 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass took a bite out of Tiger Woods Friday. Woods came to the island-green hole at 5 under par in the second round of The Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He had just birdied No. 16 to pull within two shots of the lead. In fact, Woods, who started his round on the back nine, had birdied three of his first seven holes of the day.<doc-sep>PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The island green that never looks smaller than it does on Sunday at the Players Championship proved to be no problem for Rory McIlroy. Same with the daunting tee shot at the 18th hole, the slew of players in contention and the windy conditions. Perhaps most importantly, the recent history of trying but failing in golf tournaments across the world proved to be a product of patience rather than panic, as McIlroy notched a big victory on Sunday. Starting the final round one shot back of leader Jon Rahm and overcoming an early double-bogey, McIlroy played his last 10 holes in 4 under par on a raw day at TPC Sawgrass to claim his most important win since the 2014 PGA Championship. It was his first victory in a year, since he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which also happened to be on St. Patrick's Day weekend. "It's not a bad weekend for me,'' said McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland. "It's very nice to get a win,'' he said. "Especially doing it on this golf course, which played similar to the way Augusta will play. I'm playing some of the best golf of my life.'' Ah, Augusta. It was good of Rory to bring up the home of the Masters and the first major championship of the year, where next month he will be among the favorites to not only win the tournament but also complete the career Grand Slam. Such talk was inevitable, given McIlroy's stature in the game and his run of high finishes in 2019, none of which has been worse than sixth. The nagging issue of playing in nine straight final groups without a win still persists --- he was in the second-to-last group Sunday -- but hardly matters now. "I think all the experiences I've had over the last few weeks, in terms of trying to win and not getting over the line, definitely helped me [Sunday in the final round],'' he said. "Maybe if I hadn't have had those experiences, I wouldn't be sitting up here with this trophy, so I'm thankful and grateful for those experiences I've had this year. Yes, it would have been nice to maybe get another win, but it sort of made it all worth it, the fact that this win has come at this golf tournament, a tournament where Sawgrass and I didn't have the greatest relationship starting off.'' McIlroy missed the cut in his first three appearances. In 2011, he skipped the tournament altogether -- a decision he later said he regretted -- before posting three top-10s the past five years. But it was the run of near-success early this year that had many wondering if McIlroy had lost the closing spurt that brought him so much success early in his career. Although none of his final rounds was horrible -- he shot 72 a week ago in the final round at Bay Hill -- he was coming up short. Congrats to @McIlroyRory on a great win... silenced a lot of people today! Way to play bro 👊🏽 — Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) March 17, 2019 "I really have left each tournament happy,'' McIlroy said. "When you reflect on the week, you have to reflect on the 72 holes and not just the last two holes you played, and every time I reflected on the 72 I've played, I've been pretty happy. I've done everything I've wanted to do. "I looked at my stats at the end of every week. I'm leading strokes gained tee to green, I'm putting well, my around the greens is good. Everything was in a really good place, and that's why I was just preaching patience, and it was just a matter of time.'' Of course, McIlroy can't control what other players do, and he had the likes of Xander Schauffele (Sentry Tournament of Champions), Dustin Johnson (WGC-Mexico) and Francesco Molinari (Arnold Palmer Invitational) putting up good final-day scores. On Sunday, he had to contend with a flurry of competitors. Jim Furyk, 48, who only got into the field last Sunday, fired a final-round 67 that included a kick-in birdie at the 18th. Both Eddie Pepperell and Jonathan Vegas made monster putts -- Vegas' was measured at 70 feet, the longest ever recorded -- at the 17th hole to boost their chances. Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Tommy Fleetwood and Rahm were all in the mix at some point. But McIlroy bounced back from a bogey at the 14th to birdie the 15th. A 347-yard drive at the par-5 16th helped set up a two-putt birdie that gave him the lead for good. Then it was a matter of navigating two treacherous tee shots with water lurking at the 17th and 18th holes. "The 18th was probably the most difficult shot I had all day, knowing I had 4 to win,'' said McIlroy, who pumped it 288 yards into the fairway. That set up a two-putt par and his 15th PGA Tour victory, making him just the third player, along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, to have a minimum of 15 wins, including four major titles before the age of 30. McIlroy has stayed true to himself these past several months as victories eluded him. He chuckled at the journey, not just in terms of his life and his game but also since he played his first Players Championship. "I came here as a 19-year-old in 2009, missing the cut and getting kicked out of bars on Jax Beach because I was underage,'' he said. "I've come a long way in those 10 years.'' Sunday's victory might very well propel him a long way as he embarks on the next stage of his career.<doc-sep>
The Players Championship has a major reputation for a reason. It carries the prestige and the purse to stack up to the PGA Tour's premier tournaments, and TPC Sawgrass, one of golf's iconic courses, provides the perfect backdrop for Tiger Woods and the sport's biggest stars up and down the leaderboard. Woods, who won The Players in 2001 and 2013, is resuming his 2019 tournament schedule after skipping last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational due to a neck strain. The 14-time major champion was off to a strong start to the PGA Tour season before the injury and will look to pick up where he left off at golf's "fifth major." He finished 11th at the 2018 Players, his first entry into the tournament since 2013. MORE: Watch The Players Championship live with fuboTV (7-day free trial) This year is the earliest The Players has been held since 2007 after the PGA Tour rearranged its schedule for 2019. Including Woods, ranked 11th, the field features all 50 of the world's top players, and it's anyone's guess who should be considered the favorite in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. The Players has had 10 different winners each of the last 10 years, with 2018 champion Webb Simpson and other recent winners Si Woo Kim, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler looking to buck the trend this year. Follow Tiger's score and the rest of the 2019 Players Championship field below with our live leaderboard. The Players Championship leaderboard, live scores Click here or refresh if you don't see scores and results above.