McIlroy shared the lead at various points at TPC Sawgrass but will instead head into the weekend just the pace

But there was Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), Rory McIlroy (No. 2) and Xander Schauffele (No. 3) standing on a tee box together in the second round of The Players Championship, giving the thousands of fans surrounding them at 17 a glimpse of what golf should be on a week-in-week-out basis.