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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Min Woo Lee of Australia and Akshay Bhatia upstaged the biggest names in the game as they surged into a tie for the second-round lead at The Players Championship on Friday.
On another day of ideal scoring conditions at a sunbathed and relatively calm TPC Sawgrass, Lee and Bhatia each fired 6-under-par 66s to post 11-under totals of 133 in the PGA Tour's flagship event.
J.J. Spaun was alone in third one stroke back after carding a 68 while World No. 2 Rory McIlroy (68), two-time major champion Collin Morikawa (65) and Alex Smalley (67) were grouped at 9 under.
First-round leader Lucas Glover followed his opening 66 with a 70 to finish alongside Will Zalatoris (66) at 8 under, a stroke in front of Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Jake Knapp (68).
World No. 1 and reigning champion Scottie Scheffler, who is bidding for an unprecedented third successive Players victory, stood at 5 under after returning a 70.
World No. 9 Justin Thomas rebounded from an opening 78 by equaling the tournament record of 62, first set by Tom Hoge in the third round of the 2023 edition. Thomas racked up a single-round record 11 birdies in a blistering display -- marred only by a bogey at the par-4 18th, whe re his second shot ended up in water.
Lee birdied his opening hole, the par-4 10th, and then parred the next four holes before going into overdrive. Fueled by pinpoint iron play, he birdied six of the next nine holes to surge to the top of the leaderboard, and produced his only blemish of the day with a bogey at the par-5 ninth.
"I just hit it really close," the 26-year-old Lee said about his round. "Nearly holed it on three, and that was a really good shot. Clipped the hole. Felt really good over the ball. Just really good numbers and rolled some putts in. Today was solid again and hopefully two more of them."
Friday's cut was projected to fall at 1-under-par 143 with former World No. 1 Justin Rose of England, fifth-ranked Ludvig Aberg of Sweden, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Adam Scott of Australia and Viktor Hovland of Norway among those in danger of missing out.
--Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media
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Ernie Els grabs lead going into final round of Ally Challenge
South Africa's Ernie Els shot a 5-under-par 67 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead at The Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Mich. Els avoided any bad holes at Warwick Hills Golf Country Club, shooting par or better on every hole. He opened with a birdie on the first hole of the day, added one on the ninth, and then on the back nine he had three more on Holes 10, 12 and 15. The 55-year-old is playing strong golf and looking to build off two straight top-five finishes, at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open (T5) and the Boeing Classic (T3). Els caught and surpassed first-round leader Stewart Cink, who had shot an impressive 10-under round on Friday. On Saturday, Cink was solid if unspectacular, balancing three bogeys with four birdies. "Surprised I'm leading," Els said. "Yesterday it was just crazy scoring. You kind of expect the same and not quite the same. Happy today, but there's a lot of guys at 10 and 9 and 8. Back-to-back bogeys on Holes 14-15 for Cink could ultimately prove costly for what is shaping up to be a competitive final round. Four more golfers are a stroke back. "it's not really a swing adjustment, it's more of just like a focus and an intent adjustment that I'm going to make for tomorrow," Cink said. "I know I have what it takes to compete really well deep in these tournaments and I plan to do just that tomorrow." The aforementioned foursome -- Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen (65), South Africa's Retief Goosen (66), and Australia's Mark Hensby (68) and Cameron Percy (67) -- sit at 10 under after two rounds. Kjeldsen finished his day with three straight birdies and said he can't wait to get back out there. "It's great, great to have another chance to go out there and see if I can play well." The top nine is rounded out by three golfers tied for seventh at 8 under: Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee (65), Heath Slocum (66) and Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez (68).
Browns HC, Shedeur Sanders clear air on controversial benching during two-minute drill
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders appeared to be frustrated with Kevin Stefanski when the head coach took him out for the final offensive drive of Saturday's preseason game. The Browns made a curious decision to put in Tyler Huntley to lead the offense in the final two minutes of their final preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams at Huntington Bank Field. Huntley, who has almost no chance of making the 53-man roster, engineered a six-play, 46-yard drive that ended in a game-winning field goal to give the Browns a 19-17 win. Following the game, Stefanski was asked about why Sanders approached him before Huntley went in. Stefanski claimed the rookie quarterback was just being a competitor, and there was nothing more to it than that, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Sanders told reporters he didn't know the Browns were benching him for the two-minute drill. "I didn't know I was out, Sanders said via video from ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi. "I was on a bike that was powering up... I was powering up for that two-minute drive. Because that's just a situation every quarterback dreams for... I thought I was in. So then (Stefanski) told me I wasn't in. I was like, 'Ok.'" Sanders left the game after leading the offense to five straight punts. He struggled in his second preseason appearance, going 3-of-6 passing for 14 yards. The fifth-round pick took six sacks for -50 yards. Sanders didn't want to leave on that low note. The Browns shouldn't have let him. Stefanski should have given Sanders the chance to run the two-minute offense and gain valuable experience instead of giving reps to a player who won't be on the roster by Tuesday afternoon.
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Buccaneers' Shilo Sanders may have jeopardized chance to make 53-man roster
Saturday was not a good day for Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders, two players competing for a spot on the 53-man roster of their respective teams, the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hours after Shedeur took more sacks (five) than completions (three) and had a heated moment with Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, Shilo was ejected from the Buccaneers' preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. "Bucs S Shilo Sanders has been ejected from tonight's game following an unnecessary roughness penalty," Scott Smith of the Buccaneers posted on X. Shilo appeared to take exception to Zach Davidson hitting and blocking him after a play had ended before the rookie took a swing at the Bills' tight end. The ejection came at a bad time for Shilo, who was competing with Kaevon Merriweather and Rashad Wisdom for the No. 4 safety spot on the depth chart. Before the game, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles said that Shilo's output against the Bills would be big in his evaluation before the team has to trim the roster to 53 players by Tuesday. "Shilo's very aggressive, very young, very hungry," Bowles said. "He can make plays in the box and we know he can run down and give us 100% on special teams, so this last week is going to be very important for those guys to show up." Following the ejection, Shilo lost critical playing time to show his strengths on the field. He also showed the coaching staff a short temper and cost Tampa Bay with an unnecessary penalty. Shilo will end his preseason with four total tackles. He has shown he has the talent to be in the league, but Shilo's role will likely be as a practice squad player until his play and mental strength develop.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion leaves NHL for Switzerland
Last season was a tough one for veteran defenseman Jan Rutta. He dealt with some lower-body injuries, and when he was in the lineup for San Jose, he was often on the third pairing. That has certainly contributed to his going unsigned through the first seven weeks of free agency, but that is coming to an end. Earlier this week, Blick’s Gregory Beaud (h/t The Hockey News) reported that the blueliner is signing with Geneve-Servette in Switzerland. Rutta played in 54 games for the Sharks last season, picking up just three goals and six assists in a little over 17 minutes a night. However, he took a regular turn on their penalty kill and played some tough defensive minutes. Speculatively, NHL teams could be eyeing him as a PTO candidate to fill a sixth or seventh role if things went well in training camp but clearly, a full contract offer has yet to materialize and at some point, a guaranteed deal overseas could be viewed as a better option than trying to earn a contract off a tryout. Rutta debuted fairly late in the NHL with his first season coming at the age of 27 with Chicago. Since then, he has suited up in 417 regular-season games between four different clubs, putting up 23 goals and 75 assists along with 479 blocked shots. He also has a pair of Stanley Cup rings from his time with Tampa Bay. Rutta will be the third veteran NHL player to join that team this offseason. Previously, it signed wingers Jesse Puljujarvi and Jimmy Vesey and has one import slot remaining that it appears they want to use to bring in a veteran defender.
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