2015 Players Championship: Rory McIlroy lurking on leaderboard while Jordan Spieth heads home

Only one half of the the “next great rivalry” in golf showed up this week at The Players Championship. Rory McIlroy, the world No. 1, will hit the midpoint at TPC Sawgrass at 4-under and just outside the top 10. Jordan Spieth is headed home after his worst start of this breakout season.

McIlroy started his second round in a bit of sloppy form, giving away birdie chances and dropping a shot at the par-4 6th. But he turned it on and showed the talent that makes him the clear-cut No. 1 in the world. When using his driver, which is not often around TPC Sawgrass, he bombed it down the center. Three birdies in a four-hole stretch pushed him up inside the top five and within striking distance of leader Kevin Na, who got in the clubhouse early at 8-under. McIlroy’s distance sets up an array of short iron shots that many players don’t get to take, and he was dialed-in during the middle of his round. This approach to a few feet at the 12th left almost no work for his putter:

He’s still four shots back of Na and co-leader Jerry Kelly, but that’s nothing with 36 holes to go and the intimidation of the best player in the world chasing. Rory hasn’t had a bad stretch of golf since that Friday 40 on the front nine at Augusta. He cleaned up on the weekend at the Masters, won the WGC Match Play last week and is now right there at The Players. It would be a shock if he didn’t make a run over the weekend.

Spieth, on the other hand, was never in it and spent his entire second round on the wrong side of the cut line. He started with two bogeys on his first two holes during Thursday’s first round and never really recovered from there. He needed to start rolling in birdies early in his round on Friday, but never got that kind of momentum and posted an even-par 72 that wasn’t going to get it done.

There was so much hype surrounding that pairing the PGA Tour put together that it’s a little disappointing to see it fizzle out so soon in their first real meeting since the Masters. Spieth has been the hottest player in the world since December, and his ascent to No. 2 has been fantastic for the game. He may have joined the battle with that dominant Masters win, but Rory is still the undisputed champ and will be for the foreseeable future. You have to assume that this is just a blip for Spieth and he’ll be right back in it at the U.S. Open in just over a month.

Joining Rory on the first page of the leaderboard is Rickie Fowler, who has put together two solid rounds just days after an anonymous poll from his peers voted him as the “most overrated player on Tour” (tied with Ian Poulter). It’s true that he has just one PGA Tour win, but the vote is likely driven by jealously from all his off-course exposure and earnings. He’s showed up at every big event for more than a year and is doing it again this week. He’s 6-under and just two shots off the pace.

Fowler, McIlroy and Spieth were some of the big names doing damage late in the afternoon, while Tiger Woods headlined the morning wave (highlights and recap of his round here). Woods played another up-and-down 18, which was mostly spent on the wrong side of the cut line. But he drilled a nine-foot birdie putt on his last green and made the cut right on the number.

He’s a long ways back from Na and Kelly, but Tiger insisted after the round that anyone who made the cut still had a chance.

Here’s where the full field stands after 36 holes at The Players.