None of the three South Africans in the Players Championship made the cut on Friday, but Aldrich Potgieter would have been happiest with his second-round showing as he carded a one-under-par 71 to reach 36 holes in one-over-par.
On a day on which the morning was as benign as can be, and on which things got a little breezier in the afternoon, going under par was non-negotiable if anyone wanted to be in contention. Unfortunately for Potgieter, his first round of two-over 74 left him just short of the cut which fell at one-under-par.
Christian Bezuidenhout struggled as he carded a four-over 76, and he slipped to three-over to miss by plenty. Erik van Rooyen had a one-over 73, and, taken with his opening 72, left him, like Potgieter, two shy of playing on the weekend.
There were plenty of good scores on the upper reaches of the leaderboard: Australian Min Woo Lee was impressive with his six-under 66 which took him to a share of the halfway lead. He made seven birdies, but dropped a shot on his final hole, the ninth.
Sharing the top of the leaderboard with him was the left-handed American Akshay Bhatia, who had eight birdies and two bogeys in an aggressive round.
At 11-under, the leaders were one clear of JJ Spaun of the United States in third, with Alex Smalley and Collin Morikawa sharing fourth on nine-under with Rory McIlroy.
Back in a share of 29th on four-under was Justin Thomas, who turned round his opening six-under 78 with a sparkling 10-under-par 62. He made 11 birdies and dropped a shot on the closing 18th.
