Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — Indian Anirban Lahiri came within a stroke of carding the highest score at the 18th hole in Players Championship history on Friday as the TPC Sawgrass claimed another victim on Friday. World number 84 Lahiri hooked three balls into the water hazard that lines the left side of the par-four hole, running up a sextuple-bogey 10. 

India's Anirban Lahiri tees off on the second half during the second round of the Players Championship at the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

He arrived at the 18th tee at even par, five strokes behind the clubhouse leaders and seemingly destined to safely make the halfway cut in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Three bad swings later his tournament was over. He teed off with a fairway metal and yanked the ball so far left it missed dry land by some 30 metres.

Lahiri hooked his first drive way left into the water. Then things got weird as Lahiri hooked two more shots into the water, his chances of making the cut gone in horrific fashion. (courtesy: Ref Hoggard, twitter)

His next shot, with an iron from one of the forward tees, finished in a similar position, before he reverted to a fairway metal for his next shot, which was drawn seemingly magnet-like to another watery grave. Lahiri shot 75 to miss the cut with a six-over 150 total. 

The 29-year-old is in his second full season on the PGA Tour, has been fun to watch all season and had made 8 of 10 cuts prior to his blowup at TPC Sawgrass. He finished T-3 at the CIMB Classic back in October and T-11 at the Honda Classic in February.

He ranks 12th on the Tour in birdies-per-round (4.25) but, as we saw Friday, has run into trouble with the big number.

Lahiri is not the first player and won’t be the last to suffer here – 8-time PGA Tour winner Bob Tway once made a 12 on the par-3 17th – and we’re just hoping he can find a way to put it behind him once the sting wears off.

Louis Oosthuizen had a bogey-free round and finished with a 6-under 66 on Friday to grab a share of the lead at The Players Championship.

Each birdie by Louis Oosthuizen and Kyle Stanley pushed them higher up the leaderboard, a little further away from those chasing them in The Players Championship.

And as Friday showed, every little bit helps. Jim Furyk celebrated his 47th birthday with a solid round that came undone with two shots into the water on the island-green 17th that caused him to take the weekend off.

J.B. Holmes was tied for the lead until bogeys on his last two holes.

Vijay Singh, the 54-year-old surprise of the tournament, poured in putts from everywhere until a three-putt on the 18th gave him a 68 and put him three behind.

“I don’t think you can ever get too comfortable out here,” Stanley said after an eight-birdie round of 6-under 66, matching Oosthuizen for the best score of the second round and giving them a share of the lead at 9-under 135.

As conditions toughened at TPC Sawgrass, they played even better.

Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy scrapped it around Friday morning, Johnson making only one birdie for a 73 and McIlroy managing through nagging back pain for a 71. They were at even par and not too bothered. They were only five behind when they finished, and they could sense that because of steamy weather and swaying pines that nobody was going to get too far away from him.

“I’m going to have to play two really good rounds on the weekend,” Johnson said.

Johnson and McIlroy at least are still in the game.

Jordan Spieth was headed home after missing the cut for the third straight year, yet he didn’t sound terribly upset. He chalked that up to not being able to handle this strand of grass when it gets firm and crusty. Spieth’s last hope ended with a tee shot that bounced at the back of the island-green 17th and into the water.

The cut was at 2-over 146, and there will be another cut Saturday because more than 78 players advanced to the weekend. That’s when the tournament will finally start to take shape, and while Oosthuizen and Stanley stood out with the best scores of the second round, both know it can change quickly.

“We’re in a pretty good spot going into this weekend,” said Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion who still hasn’t won in America. “A lot of golf to be played around this golf course, and as we’ve seen the last two days, you can easily make a mistake around this track.”

Players Championship: Kyle Stanley is not one to overlook this weekend