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Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm still alive at THE PLAYERS Championship

By Kathlene Bissell

Phil Mickelson hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2016 Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass - Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Phil Mickelson hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2016 Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass - Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /
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THE PLAYERS Championship 2nd round involved considerable volatility but at the end of the day veteran Phil Mickelson and rookie Jon Rahm were both in contention going into the weekend.

Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm did some drifting around the TPC Sawgrass leaderboard today. Friday became moving day, the name traditionally reserved for Saturday.  Some moved up, like Louis Oosthuizen, J.B.Holmes and Kyle Stanley, tied at the top at 9-under par. Some moved down, like first round leader William McGirt. Some did both, like young phenom Jon Rahm and PGA TOUR veteran Phil Mickelson.

Mickelson, who did not play a practice round, citing the hot conditions and a desire to stay fresh so he would be strong through the entire round, started well with a 33 on the front and ended poorly when he hit a ball in the water at the 17th.  It negated his earlier brilliant play.

Lefty explained what happened in his post-round interview:

"I was in between nine and wedge. I tried to hit it to the front of the green, I hit wedge and it went over the green in the water. So, it happens on this course where the penalty for — especially with the greens being firm — the penalty is going to be like that. It’s going to make us look pretty silly out there a lot of spots."

Oosthuizen birdied both the 13th and the 17th, which is a tough double. He had no bogeys.

"I’ve been probably working a little bit more on my putting at home in Palm Beach, try and every day just do a bit of half an hour work when I can, and you know, I think it’s paid off."

Oosthuizen has eight European Tour wins including the 2010 British Open.  He has no PGA Tour victories.

Jon Rahm got to 7-under par before finding trouble in the closing holes. He birdied he 2nd, and 9th, the 11th and 12th but found trouble and bogeys at the 5th, 8th, and then at the 15th and 17th. Still, Rahm explained in his post-round interview, he wasn’t distressed with his 2nd round results.

"Even par is probably a score I would have taken before teeing off. You get rewarded if you hit good shots like it happened to me yesterday. If you hit a bad one, you’re going to be penalized. That’s Pete Dye design."

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Despite Rahm’s good drive on the 16th, where he hit a 9-iron second shot, if you can imagine, 194 yards, he still didn’t make birdie because he chipped over the green and needed two shots to get into the hole.

Vijay Singh, now 54, moved into contention with a 68 and should he win, he would become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour surpassing Sam Snead and Raymond Floyd.  That fact courtesy of the PGA Tour media staff.

Other data: J.B. Holmes’ last victory was the 2015 Shell Houston Open.  Kyle Stanley’s is the 2012 Waste Management Open.

Jordan Spieth missed the cut for the third time in a row at THE PLAYERS.

Next: TPC Sawgrass: Best of the day at the 17th

Dustin Johnson made birdie from the water on 11.  After a 304-yard drive, he hit his second shot into water, dropped in the left fairway and hit a shot 109 yards into hole for birdie.  He’s at even par.

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