PLAYERS: Lee Westwood grabs the lead after second round

On a day where Sergio Garcia left the door wide open, two men took full advantage to get themselves into great position heading into the weekend at the PLAYERS. Lee Westwood and Chris Kirk.

Sergio played masterfully on day one, but came out and shot a very pedestrian even par during his second round. Leaving round one, he had a two-shot lead. Leaving round two, and sitting at the same score, he was now at a two-shot disadvantage, trailing Lee Westwood.

This makes it two weeks in a row that Westwood has been in contention. The man that he lost to last week at the API is lurking just three shots back of Westwood.

Thanks to a mistake-free round, Lee Westwood and his score of 66 gets him to -9 and the lead.

Westwood started on the first and birdied the second, third, and fourth holes to jump to -6. He was actually playing better than that and came within a foot on the first, fifth, and sixth holes of making it six straight birdies to start his round.

He enjoyed making three birdies in a row so much that he decided to do it again starting at the par-5 9th hole. Chipping to five feet after laying up, he would make the putt. This was followed by a 16-footer on the tenth, and a nine-foot putt on the 11th, getting him to -9 with seven holes left.

A 13-footer at the 12th kept him bogey-free, with his only other scare coming at the 14th, when he went up and down for par from the bunker.

His round, a 66, was great, but the best round of the day belongs to Chris Kirk, who has carded the opposite of Sergio, going 72-65 instead of 65-72. Kirk actually had more non-par holes than he did par holes Friday. To go along with his seven birdies, he made two doubles, and one of the more impressive eagles of the day.

After starting on the 10th, Kirk would come to the first hole after shooting -3 on his first nine. After a nice tee shot on the first, Kirk was 146 yards out. He would make it, jumping to -5 after holing out from the fairway.

After trading birdie/bogey on the 2nd/3rd, Kirk would stay quiet until the finishing holes, where he would notch back-to-back birdies to mark the best round of the day with a -7 65.

Both men are near the top of the PLAYERS leaderboard, with Lee Westwood leading by one, and Kirk in a T-3rd with Sergio. Kirk will tee off with Sergio and will be followed by Matthew Fitzpatrick at -8 and Westwood.