It's a new tournament and a new week, but Jason Day's 2018 Players Championship performance has this far been an extension of his Wells Fargo Championship win last week. The 12-time PGA Tour winner (and former Players champ) is 8 under through two rounds after a 69-67 start with no sign of yielding for any of the other top players in the world who join him atop the leaderboard.

Day, who is two back of the clubhouse leaders, is mostly getting it done in the same way he did in the final round last week: with the hottest putter in the world. It's maybe not the greatest long-term formula for conquering TPC Sawgrass, but it's worked for him through 36 holes. And he added to it a top-10 approach game on Friday as he gained three strokes on the rest of the field. That, more than anything else, should worry the players behind him.

Day birdied five holes on Friday, including the hardest hole on the course (No. 17), and even his wayward drives (he was outside the top 80 in driving) led to good approaches and no dropped shots.

"I'm hitting it better (than last week), which is nice," Day said. "The short game is good, but this is different grass. When you're chipping off this grass, it's a little inconsistent compared to what we had last week. It's easier to chip off that stuff last week than what we have here."

In 2016, when Day won, he led by four going into the weekend. We aren't quite there with him this time around, but Saturday will be massive for the Australian. Maybe more so than anyone else in the field. His recent record as a closer is indomitable, and if he leads after 54 holes, you can bet he'll try to strong-arm the toughest field in golf over the last 18 holes. 

Day could become just the sixth multiple-time champion of this tournament since it moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982 and the first to win two in a span of three years. 

"It's always good to come back and know you've won on a golf course like this because it is tough," Day said. "The weekend changes. Coming off last week's win gives you a lot of confidence going forward because you know you can close even though you don't have your best stuff."

There is a sense of inevitability with few of the sport's biggest stars, and Day is among those for whom the games seems to come so easily at times. Over his last 108 holes in the last two weeks, Day has made 29 birdies or eagles and just 10 bogeys. It has been a run free of very many mistakes, and that flawlessness combined with Day's mental fortitude are a nasty combination for a field that is mostly chasing.

Day might not win this tournament, but as a recent winner in this course and the most recent winner on Tour, he might be the guy to beat.