Martin Laird and Ian Poulter tumbled out of the lead while world number one Rory McIlroy crashed out of golf's richest event again on Friday.
Laird shot 73 and Poulter 76 to allow Americans Zach Johnson, Kevin Na and Matt Kuchar to take over in front at eight under par in the £5.8million Players Championship at Sawgrass in Florida.
McIlroy did no better than Poulter and, having opened with a 72, he made an early exit from the tournament for the third time in three visits.
Tiger Woods is around for the weekend, though, and not out of the title hunt either.
Down in joint 100th place after his initial 74, Woods appeared in danger of two consecutive missed cuts for the first time in his career.
But in a far more impressive display he had four successive birdies from the eighth, shot 68 and moved up nearly 70 places to two under.
Laird made further good progress until he came to the famed closing stretch.
The Glaswegian found the water with his second shot to the long 16th and then hit a shocking tee shot on the short 17th to find the same lake.
They cost him a bogey six and a double-bogey five and the sad finish was complete when he left a chip well short on the last and bogeyed again to finish six under.
"That's what this course will do to you," he said. "I got a bit greedy with a four iron to the 16th - it was a stupid shot - and was between clubs at the 17th.
"A nine iron was too much and a wedge not enough, but I didn't hit it real solid and the wind got it. It was a bad shot.
"But as big a car crash as I just had, I'm still well in it. I'd have taken my position before the start."
Poulter's opening dealt his hopes of the £1million-plus first prize a huge blow.
He went over the green at the 10th - his first of the day - chipped poorly and three-putted for a double bogey.
It was not long before another came. The pin was back right on the short 13th, but Poulter went short left into the water.
The Englishman steadied the ship after that and said: "That was not the start I was looking for. I was staring an ugly one in the face, but I'm still in it."
By then McIlroy was on his way back to Europe.
"There's something about this course I can't quite get to grips with," said the Northern Irishman, who could lose top spot on the rankings to Luke Donald or Lee Westwood.
"It's disappointing - I'm not going to lie. I've been playing well for the last 12 months. This is my first missed cut for a year.
"I'll get ready now for the big tournaments coming up."
Next is the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in a fortnight and his US Open defence is little more than a month away.
He vowed to return next May to try again - last year he skipped the event - but said: "I'm a visual player and I struggle to see the tee shots required here."
Donald eagled the 16th and second in his 69, while Westwood shot 70.
"It could have been a special round," Donald said. "I threw in a couple of bad swings, but 69 is not a bad score.
"I am quietly optimistic. I think this course is only going to get tougher and eight or nine under could be a good score come Sunday."
Westwood said: "I didn't play as well as yesterday, but shot one better - that's golf.
"I'm playing all right. I like this course and it suits me.
"I suppose three under is in touch. Hopefully it will firm up and the greens will get quicker."
Laird was not the only British golfer high up. London's Brian Davis, also based in the United States, was on six under as well after a 70.
Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington had a long wait before discovering that their one-over aggregate was one too many to survive.
It was not a good day for the Irish.
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour's The Players Championship, The TPC at Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Florida, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 72):
136 Kevin Na 67 69, Zach Johnson 70 66, Matt Kuchar 68 68
137 Harris English 70 67
138 Brian Davis (Eng) 68 70, Charlie Wi (Kor) 71 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 65 73, Jonathan Byrd 68 70
139 Michael Thompson 68 71, Kevin Stadler 68 71, Bill Haas 68 71, Ben Curtis 68 71, Blake Adams 66 73
140 Brendon De Jonge 69 71, Kevin Streelman 72 68
141 Nick Watney 71 70, Brian Harman 73 68, Jeff Maggert 70 71, Ian Poulter (Eng) 65 76, Jimmy Walker 71 70, Bo Van Pelt 71 70, Tom Gillis 70 71, John Huh (Kor) 75 66, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 69, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 70, Rickie Fowler 72 69, Lee Westwood (Eng) 71 70, Ryan Moore 69 72
142 Spencer Levin 74 68, Tiger Woods 74 68, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 69, Phil Mickelson 71 71, Keegan Bradley 72 70, Bob Estes 73 69, Jim Furyk 72 70, Johnson Wagner 69 73, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 68 74, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 71, Josh Teater 71 71
143 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 72, Kris Blanks 69 74, Brian Gay 71 72, Sung Kang (Kor) 75 68, David Toms 69 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 70 73, Chris Couch 72 71, Stewart Cink 71 72, Heath Slocum 73 70, Ricky Barnes 74 69, Justin Leonard 75 68, George McNeill 70 73, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 70, David Mathis 72 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 72
144 Chris Kirk 71 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 71, David Hearn (Can) 69 75, Harrison Frazar 68 76, Graham Delaet (Can) 71 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 74, Justin Rose (Eng) 76 68, Bryce Molder 72 72, Pat Perez 69 75, Jason Dufner 73 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 72, John Rollins 72 72, J J Henry 71 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 72, Cameron Tringale 73 71
----------------The following players failed to make the cut----------------
145 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 73, Tim Herron 70 75, Graeme McDowell (Nirl) 74 71, Ryan Palmer 73 72, John Senden (Aus) 74 71, Joe Ogilvie 72 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 74, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 74 71, Jason Day (Aus) 73 72, Charles Howell III 76 69, Ben Crane 67 78, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 68 77, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 76
146 Kyle Stanley 73 73, Chris Di Marco 73 73, Davis Love III 72 74, Lucas Glover 74 72, Webb Simpson 73 73, J.J Killeen 69 77, Sean O'Hair 69 77, Camilo Villegas (Col) 75 71
147 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 76 71, Chris Stroud 73 74, Jeff Overton 78 69, Scott Stallings 72 75, Scott Piercy 73 74, John Mallinger 73 74, Chez Reavie 72 75, Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 74, Chad Campbell 72 75, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 78, Ken Duke 73 74, Brandt Jobe 73 74, Tommy Gainey 74 73
148 Rory McIlroy (Nirl) 72 76, John Merrick 70 78, Michael Bradley 74 74, Billy Mayfair 79 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 74 74, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 76, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 80 68
149 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 77
150 Hunter Mahan 74 76, Bud Cauley 75 75, Steve Stricker 76 74, Charley Hoffman 79 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 79, Gary Woodland 77 73, Brandt Snedeker 76 74
151 Brendan Steele 72 79, Robert Garrigus 73 78, K J Choi (Kor) 75 76, Matthew Every 77 74, Mark Wilson 74 77
152 J.B. Holmes 74 78, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 75 77, Matt Bettencourt 75 77, James Driscoll 73 79, Kevin Chappell 74 78
154 Jerry Kelly 82 72
155 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 78 77, Tom Pernice Jnr. 80 75
156 Troy Matteson 79 77
157 Colt Knost 79 78
158 Andres Romero (Arg) 76 82
WD: 72 Scott Verplank, 76 Briny Baird
DSQ: D.J. Trahan 80 74
