2021 Players Championship leaderboard breakdown: Lee Westwood leads, but there's a loaded pack behind him

The top of the leaderboard is stout through 36 holes at The Players Championship

Early in the second round of the 2021 Players Championship, it seemed like the cream of the crop was rising to the top. In the end, though, the leaderboard at TPC Sawgrass is a smorgasbord of old stalwarts, young studs and plenty of journeymen looking for the biggest win of their careers.

Lee Westwood leads at the halfway point after a stunning 66 in Round 2, which was the second-best round of the day next to only Chris Kirk's 65. Friday proved to be a much easier scoring day than Thursday, but plenty of stars were still ejected as Westy just chugged on.

Play was again suspended with several players still out on the course. They'll have to finish their second rounds on Saturday morning before the official cut is made, but nobody out there is near the top of the leaderboard. Here's a look at what happened at the top of the leaderboard on Friday and what to expect going into Saturday morning. 

1. Lee Westwood (-9): The Englishman summed it up nicely on Golf Channel after his round during an interview with Steve Sands, who asked about how his confidence has led to some great play. Westwood answered in his thick English accent as only somebody who has been around professional golf for 30 years can. "My confidence is high, but the quality of me golf swing is high, too," he said.

That it is. Westwood backed up his 69 from Thursday with that 66 on Friday on the foundation of a red-hot putter, which has been solid for two weeks in a row. He said all he's seeing is fairways and greens -- that's how it felt watching him -- and now he's poised for what would be the best win of an underrated, great career. We've been here before with Westwood -- even at this tournament -- and his best result here came in 2010 when he finished T4. He has a chance to usurp that this time around (at the age of 47!) with a swing that has stood the test of time and a putter that is as hot as it's ever been. 

2. Matthew Fitzpatrick (-8): It's an all-English final pairing as Fitzpatrick birdied the last to shoot 68 for the second consecutive day. He's been really strong across the board -- albeit the putter was cold on Thursday and hot on Friday -- and though he's not quite as good a ball striker as Westwood, he's not afraid to tangle with TPC Sawgrass. He should be fun to watch coming home after a great 36-hole start.

T3. Sergio Garcia (-7): We got the full Sergio Experience on Friday when he hit a 222-yard shot to 4 inches on the 11th hole and a 2-foot putt to ... 2 feet on the 15th. That's right, Sergio missed a 23-inch putt on the 15th hole, but he bounced back from that bogey with a birdie-par-par finish to claw his way back into the top 5 heading to the weekend. He putted horrendously (obviously) on Friday, but the staying power at TPC Sawgrass is real because he's still hitting it well. His back nine on Friday -- somehow 1 under -- made me feel like my weekly ride on the Jordan Spieth roller coasters is more benign than I originally imagined.

T3. Chris Kirk (-7): You might not know the full Chris Kirk story, but it's one worth rooting for. Kirk, who has played well at this event before, stepped away from golf nearly two years ago to deal with depression and alcoholism. His return to the sport has been successful and inspiring, and he's playing great again this week. There are plenty of great stories near the top of this board, but Kirk winning a Players Championship after fighting himself for so long would be the very best of them all.

T5. Bryson DeChambeau, Denny McCarthy, Brian Harman, Charley Hoffman, Doug Ghim, Sungjae Im (-6): After shooting his second-straight 69 and getting into a tie for second at the time he finished, Bryson said on Golf Channel that he was scrapping it around at TPC Sawgrass. While that's not technically accurate, it is true that we haven't seen his best stuff off the tee at TPC Sawgrass so far. He's barely a plus in driving and putting, which could go one of two ways. Maybe you look at it and say that he just doesn't have it this week coming off an emotional win last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Or maybe you look at the first two days and say that he'll eventually default into the thing he does best, maybe better than anyone else in the history of the sport. If that happens -- if he improves on his 12-for-28 fairways hit performance over the first two days -- we could be looking at back-to-back wins for Bryson.

"I'm happy with the fact that I've still been able to keep myself in it and score well," said DeChambeau after his Friday 69. "I've been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don't think that'll happen this weekend. I've got to make sure that my game is good off the tee so I don't have those issues occurring and I don't have to rely on luck for the most part. I have to get it in the fairway."

T14. Jon Rahm (-4): The No. 2 player in the world shot the quietest 4-under 140 by a No. 2 player in the world in the history of this event. Rahm stood on the second tee box (his 11th hole of the day on Friday) right on the cut line but birdied four of his last eight to put himself in perfect position for Moving Day on Saturday. He's never had a top-10 finish here, but he's improved every time he's played TPC Sawgrass, culminating in a T12 in 2019. Rahm also said on Friday that he's benefitted from having several thousand in attendance, many of them following his group over the first two days.

"From zero to 10,000, it's a pretty big difference," he said. "It's nice that they're back, to be honest. I don't know how to put it exactly, but you can feed off the crowd. That's a thing, right. You're going to get a lot of people that are supporting you, and whether you hit a good shot or bad shot, you can feed off that positive energy that they're giving you."

T22. Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas (-4): J.T.'s 2 under on Friday was again a grind as the driver, which has not been kind to him over the past few months, was a problem. He warred for a second-straight 70, but he'll need everything to click over the next 36 to have a shot.

T37. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson (-3): D.J. started out hot on Friday but faded a bit late. Still, every year there's somebody who pops up early on Saturday, and I'm guessing it's either going to be him or J.T.

[Mar 12, 2021 at 5:38 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Sergio bounces back with a birdie-par run after his ghastly missed 23-inch putt on No. 15.

[Mar 12, 2021 at 5:21 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

The toughest scene.

[Mar 12, 2021 at 5:05 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Westy gets in the house at -9, and he's the solo leader with Fitzy one back with five holes left (but in a ton of trouble on his 14th hole of the day). Sergio just missed a 2-footer.