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Louis Oosthuizen

Today at the Players: Oosthuizen leads as Rory battles back injury

From the best shots to a betting update, NCG runs down everything you need to know from day two at Sawgrass...
 

Who doesn’t like the Players Championship? That course! That island green! It should be the fifth major! Well, no, it shouldn’t – but it’s still a great tournament and one we all look forward to here at NCG Towers.

Craig Middleton, James Savage and Steve Carroll round up the best of day two at TPC Sawgrass.

So what happened?

The lead exchanged hands quite a lot during the second day. But it wasn’t DJ, Rory and J Day battling it out at the top. It was Louis Oosthuizen and Kyle Stanley who traded blows.

The 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen followed up a first round 69 with a faultless 66, and if his putter was little bit hotter he could have posted as low as a 63.

American Kyle Stanley had an up and down start to his second round, with just two pars in his opening ten holes. A late couple of birdies helped him to a round of 66 to share the lead alongside Oosthuizen at 9-under par.

Poor old Phil Mickelson had a mixed day. A solid front nine was then let down by a poor back nine, including a ball in the water at the 17th. He finds himself seven shots off the leaders.

Nine shots off the pace are TaylorMade hot shots Rory and DJ, who shot rounds of 71 and 73 respectively. Nothing special from either of them on a rather frustrating day for the pair.

After the round Rory confirmed that after the event he will have an MRI scan on a troublesome back injury that he has been suffering with. Not such great news for the European Tour with their flagship event at Wentworth just a couple of weeks around the corner.

A good day for…

…Vijay Singh.

Who says the golf is a young mans game? 54 year old Vijay Singh rolled back the years today with a marvellous second round of 67.

Vijay of course is currently going through a legal battle with the PGA Tour. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see him pick up the trophy on Sunday evening…

 

A bad day for…

…Scott Piercy.

An opening round 80 was not the way you’d want to start a tournament, but at least you have a second round to put things right.

Scott Piercy had a nine and an eight on his scorecard today in a round of 84..He finished at 20-over par.

…Danny Willett

The 2016 Masters champion withdrew after 9 holes citing a ‘bad back’. Lets hope the Englishman will be back to full health for the BMW Championship at Wentworth in a couple of weeks.

Shot of the day

There’s a reason Louis Oosthuizen is a major champion…

Stat of the day

Jordan Spieth missed his third cut at the Players Championship. The most he has ever had at a single PGA Tour event in his career.

Some courses just tend to get the better of you..

Social Spotlight

Twitter is always fun during a big golf tournament, so here’s a quick round-up of our favourite tweets from day two of the Players.

It was a great day for the old guard. What about this for a fact…

Talk about following up a bad shot with a good shot…..

Our tweet of the day goes to this gentleman…

Betting update

With the big guns having largely floundered, it’s Louis Oosthuizen (4/1) who is now the clear favourite.

Oosthuizen’s claims are obvious. He doesn’t have a huge amount of recent Sawgrass form to draw on but he does tend to stubbornly hang around when in contention. We’re paying for that, though, in the price.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello is more than three times the odds of Spanish compatriot Jon Rahm but is a shot better off after the second round.

Converting good positions can be a problem for Rafa but, at a ј of the odds for the first five, he’s got possibilities of finishing among the places.

At the much bigger prices, the odds should be stacked against Vijay Singh (80/1).

One of the PGA Tour’s senior citizens, he probably won’t last the pace but no one knows this course better than he does – he lives nearby and practices at Sawgrass.

High up the strokes gained putting stats this week, that’s significant as it’s the flat stick that usually lets him down.

At that price, he may be worth a very small each way play to hang around. Take a peek at top 10 and 20 markets too.

All the gear…

James Savage talks us through all things equipment from day two at the Players..

Rory watch. A much more controlled performance on the course but questions remain about the wardrobe.
It was baby blue shoes on Thursday and on Friday the colour had been transferred to his shirt. Must do better at the weekend.
 
Phil Mickelson is often sporting a pair of crocodile skin shoes which cost more than most of us earn in a month.
So it was a surprise to see this casual look from the five-time major winner. They almost look like trainers.
World number one Jason Day also caught the eye with a stylish pair of Nikes which we think are a limited edition pair of Air Zoom TW71.
But with all this new TaylorMade gear on show from McIlroy et al it was nice to see a few players keeping it real with equipment from a few years back.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello is still on the Titleist 913 driver from four years ago.
Bubba Watson has gone back to his trusty Ping S55 irons.

Fellow Ping staffer David Lingmerth can’t let go of his i25s.

But these are all trumped by Henrik Stenson’s Callaway Diablo Octane Pro – a 2008 head with a 2003 shaft. Stop it Henrik.

 

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