Rory McIlroy is two off the halfway lead despite a disappointing finish to his second round at The Players, as Justin Thomas charged back into contention with a historic comeback.

McIlroy produced a much-improved display off the tee and briefly topped the leaderboard after six birdies in his first 11 holes, only to bogey two of his last four holes and close a second-round 68.

The world No 2 heads into the weekend on nine under and in touch with Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia, who carded 66s to lead on 11 under ahead of JJ Spaun, with McIlroy sitting tied-fourth alongside Collin Morikawa and Alex Smalley.

Tommy Fleetwood is within four of the lead after as six-under 66 and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler is six back as he chases a historic three-peat at the event, while Thomas bounced back from his opening-round 78 with a stunning 10-under 62.

Thomas was eight over after 13 holes on day one but is now just seven off the lead after carding 11 birdies – a tournament record – in his second round, where he equalled the course record despite bogeying his final hole of the day.

McIlroy in contention despite late bogeys

McIlroy chipped in from off the tenth green, his opening hole of the day, then responded to missing a five-foot chance at the par-five next by birdieing three of his next five holes and adding another at the par-four 18th.

He reached the turn in 31 and briefly led after taking advantage of the par-five second, lifting him six under for the day, before failing to get up and down from the sand at the par-four sixth and bogeying the par-five ninth after a wayward approach shot.

“Much better,” McIlroy said when asked to assess his swing, having found only four fairways in his opening-round 67. “Hit it much better off the tee. I think I hit more fairways in six holes today than I did in 18 yesterday.

“Yeah, got it in play much better and then from there was able to give myself some opportunities and obviously make some birdies early. Couldn’t quite continue that on to the back nine, but it was much better off the tee.”

Lee set the clubhouse target after six birdies in the space of nine holes during his round, with the Australian’s only dropped shot coming at the par-five ninth, while Bhatia carded eight birdies and two bogeys to also post 66 and get to 11 under.

Thomas produces historic comeback

Thomas, the 2021 champion, carded a remarkable 16-shot improvement on his opening round, where he needed a birdie-birdie finish just to post 78, with the former world No 1 starting his epic fightback with back-to-back birdies.

Thomas added three more in a front-nine 31 and posted four consecutive birdies from the 11th to go nine under for the day, before picking up a shot at the par-five 16th and draining a 20-footer at the iconic 17th.

A par at the last would have been enough for Thomas to break the outright course record, only for him to equal Tom Hoge’s total in 2023 after dragging his approach into the water and carding a closing bogey.

Smalley is the best-placed of the early-late half of the draw, with rounds of 68 and 67 taking him to nine under, with Morikawa – last week’s runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational – also within two of the lead after a second-round 65.

Two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, playing alongside Scheffler and McIlroy, birdied the ninth – his final hole of the day – to finish on one under and extend his streak of made cuts to 59, the longest since Tiger Woods’ run of 142 from 1998-2005.

Shane Lowry also made it through on the cut mark of one under, while Justin Rose, Hideki Matsuyama, Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland were among the high-profile names to fail to make it through to the weekend.

Who will win The Players? Watch throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports? Coverage continues on Saturday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf, with 10 extra feeds – including Featured Holes, Featured Groups and bonus coverage – on Sky Sports+. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.

Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland