Canada's Nick Taylor tied for 2nd at Players Championship, 4 shots behind Wyndham Clark

Scottie Scheffler had his 25th consecutive round under par Friday in The Players Championship, and this was hard work. He felt pain in his neck that required treatment on the course, and he struggled to swing and to stay within range of Wyndham Clark.

Feeling fit or not, that turned out to be the goal for everyone.

Clark was playing in the group behind, oblivious to Scheffler's injury or anything else. He ran off four straight birdies on the front nine and finished with a 7-under 65, one shot short of the 36-hole record at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

He had a four-shot lead over fellow American Xander Schauffele (69) and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., (68), who played in the afternoon and had to cope with warm, breezy conditions on greens that remained surprisingly soft on the Stadium Course.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is tied for sixth at 8 under.

WATCH l Taylor, Conners remain in hunt entering weekend:

Scheffler was simply happy to be done. He felt something wrong on his fourth full swing of the day, a shot that went left on the par-5 11th that kept him from a good look at birdie. He got treatment before his tee shots on three straight holes and managed a 3-under 69.

"I felt a little something in my neck, and then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that's when I could barely get the club back," Scheffler said through a PGA Tour official.

Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton, Ont., is tied for 55th at 1 under, Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., is tied for 82nd at 1 over, Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., is tied for 106th at 3 over, Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford is tied for 114th at 4 over, and Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., is tied for 125th at 6 over.

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