Rory McIlroy's hopes of a second Players Championship title suffered a setback after an erratic second-round display at TPC Sawgrass.
The world No 2 bounced back from a slow start to his PGA Tour campaign by grabbing a share of the early lead alongside Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele, only to fall eight off back at the halfway stage after an erratic one-over 73 on Friday.
McIlroy mixed five birdies with four bogey and a double-bogey during a frustrating display, dropping outside the top-10, as Clark built up a four-shot lead with a second successive 65.
- The Players: Latest scores | Second round as it happened
- Scottie Scheffler experiences injury scare at TPC Sawgrass
- Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and more with NOW
The Northern Irishman declined to speak the media post-round, with McIlroy heading straight to the range as he tried to address issues in his game heading into the weekend.
What went wrong for McIlroy?
Starting his final round just as Clark was closing a second successive 65 to set the clubhouse target, McIlroy hit a wayward opening drive and then found the sand on his way to an early bogey.
McIlroy two-putted from 30 feet to take advantage of the par-five next but dropped a shot at the par-three third, where he had to negotiate a frog ahead of his pitch from the rough, before responding by firing his approach to tap-in range at the fourth and draining a 20-footer at the fifth.
An erratic start continued when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the next, but McIlroy produced an incredible recovery from the pines at the seventh to salvage a par and then holed a birdie at the ninth to reach the turn in 35.
McIlroy came close with birdie chances with the first two holes of his back nine and responded to finding water off the 12th tee to scramble a bogey, before undoing a 15-foot birdie at the 13th with an ugly double-bogey at the next.
The 2019 Players champion had to settle for pars at the 15th and 16th and missed a birdie opportunity at the par-three 17th, with a closing par leaving him heading into the weekend on six under.
Radar: Wind played havoc with McIlroy
"There was just enough wind for it to play havoc with McIlroy," said Sky Sports' Wayne 'Radar' Riley', who was following that group for on-course commentary. Yesterday, when he shot that seven-under, that's incredibly playing - with no wind out there it was like firing darts.
"Today, the wind was there, you had to manoeuvre shots, a couple of times the body stopped and the arms kept going, and I'm a bit worried.
"He doesn't do it with the driver, he doesn't take it back in the perfect spot and then drop one on the inside - it's not the driver. The reason being, he goes so hard at the driver and you can eliminate that loop.
"When you start to finesse little seven-irons when it's usually an eight-iron and just start to chip shots in, weave your magic and become creative in the wind, you'll get found out with your swing - especially if you're looping it on the inside and your hands have to catch and most of the time it's left."
Riley added: "It's one of those he's got to work on those irons, distance control. He didn't play very well today and I'm just going to face it, it was probably one of the worst days I've ever seen McIlroy play golf. It was a battle all day."
Watch The Players live throughout the week on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday from 2pm on Sky Sports Golf, with extra feeds available before then on the red button. Stream the PGA Tour and more with NOW.