Kaymer extends lead, Speith tied 2

May 10, 2014: Martin Kaymer extended his lead into third round of THE PLAYERS Championship after shooting a card of three-under 69 on Friday to remain 12 under after two rounds at TPC Sawgrass course. However, the interesting scenario was upswing of Jorden Speith with one stroke distance from Kaymer.

Kaymer, who tied the course record in the first round, is at 12-under 132 (63-69), one shot ahead of Spieth (67-66). Russell Henley descended four shots back. Five players are tied for fourth, six shots off the lead includes American Jim Furyk, English men Lee Westwood and Justin Rose, Spain’s Sergio Garcia,and Gary Woodland of America.

“If people want to talk negative about it, I shot six shots worse, but you can always go in the negative,” Kaymer said in a PGA report. “But I see very positive things that I backed up that 9-under-par with another decent round.

Kaymer’s 12-under total matches the second-best opening 36 holes in PLAYERS history; Greg Norman shot 14-under 130 (63-67) en route to his 1994 victory.

Playing his first PLAYERS Championship, Spieth shot day’s lowest score of six-under- 66. Looking for a win after his runners up finish at The Masters last month, 20-year-old hasn’t made a bogey in 36 holes of game so far.

“Every course I’ve played over the past few years has been a brand new course to me,” Speith told PGA Tour. “I feel very comfortable chipping around these greens. That makes it a lot easier to hit the second shots in, knowing that I can be a little more aggressive.”

Spieth has hit 13 of 18 greens in each of the first two rounds. Kaymer  made two bogeys on Friday.  He hit 13 greens in regulation Friday after missing just one in the first round with his brilliant shot. He leads the field in greens in regulation after hitting 30 of the first 36.

Among the other notable players, World No. 2 Adam Scott(77,67), Rory McIlroy (70,74) are lying low on the leader board. Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley and Hunter Mahan are few prominent ones to missed the cut.