Players Championship 2023 Leaderboard: Live Updates, Top Storylines for Saturday

The 2023 Players Championship continues on Saturday, and things remain tight at the top of the standings.

Chad Ramey finished Day 1 alone atop the leaderboard at eight under, though he was trailed closely by Collin Morikawa at seven under and the trio of Taylor Pendrith, Benjamin Griffin and Justin Suh at six under.

A rough Friday for Ramey dropped him to only four under when play was suspended because of inclement weather. He was five under by the time Round 2 ended on Saturday. He's still in the hunt but a bit back from the new leader after two rounds, Adam Svensson at nine under.

Scottie Scheffler finished Round 2 at seven under, while several players—including Ben Griffin, Min Woo Lee and Collin Morikawa were at six under.

Incoming wind and rain capped what was a rough day for several other golfers, and one of the early favorites decided to withdraw on Friday.

There's plenty of golf to be played, and plenty of reasons to play it. This year's winner will take home $4.5 million of the whopping $25 million prize pool. Fans who want to keep track of the latest scores and standings can follow PGATour.com's live leaderboard.

Let's take a look at the biggest storylines heading into Saturday.

2023 Players Championship

When: March 9-12

Where: TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

TV: NBC, Golf Channel

Prize Pool: $25 million ($4.5 million to winner)

TV Coverage

Saturday, March 11: 1-6 p.m. ET on NBC

Sunday, March 12: 1-6 p.m. ET on NBC

*Daily Live Stream on ESPN+

Leaderboard After Round 2

Adam Svensson -9

Scottie Scheffler -7

Ben Griffin -6

Min Woo Lee -6

Christiaan Bezuidenhout -6

Collin Morikawa -6

*Complete Live leaderboard can be found at PGATour.com

Jon Rahm entered Thursday as one of the early favorites to win the Players Championship. Though he was coming off a rough outing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rahm has been one of the best and most consistent players on the PGA Tour since early January.

Rahm has already won three PGA tournaments in 2023.

Thursday wasn't a great round for Rahm, who finished at one under. However, he was at least on the right side of even and had an opportunity to surge back into contention with a strong round on Friday.

Only, Rahm didn't play on Friday. He withdrew because of an undisclosed illness.

Rahm's withdrawal takes one of the biggest names in the sport out of the mix for Saturday and Sunday. While there's still plenty of star power in the field, many fans are likely disappointed that they won't get to see the 28-year-old over the final two days.

Bettors may be disappointed in Rahm's withdrawal, too. Entering Friday, he was still among the tournament favorites at 14-1.

Scottie Scheffler is the new favorite at 2-1.

Scottie Scheffler - 2-1

Collin Morikawa - 11-2

Adam Svensson - 13-2

Viktor Hovland - 14-1

Jason Day - 14-1

Min Woo Lee - 20-1

Christiaan Bezuidenhout - 20-1

Ben Griffin - 25-1

Patrick Cantlay - 28-1

*Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

While the many low scores at the top of the leaderboard—14 golfers exited Friday at four under or better—might suggest otherwise, the stadium course at TPC Sawgrass has been a challenge.

Competitors have repeatedly been forced to battle the shaggy rough, looming water hazards and sneaky-tough bunkers along with each other.

Ramey, for example, lost his lead after putting successive shots into the water on the fabled 17th hole.

Rory McIlroy—who had a chance to overtake Rahm for the top spot in the PGA world rankings with a tournament win—finished Round 2 at five over and will miss the cut.

Jordan Spieth is fortunate, as he'll likely make the cut after finishing Round 2 at even par. He was even more fortunate when an errant shot ricocheted off a fan instead of going into the water on Friday.

"I got an extremely lucky break on 9, or I wouldn't be playing the weekend," Spieth said, per ESPN's Mark Schlabach. "Trying to get that guy's information and see literally whatever he wants this weekend because everything from here on out is because it hit him."

While two-round scores of seven and nine under might indicate an easy course, it's been anything but that for the majority of the field. To further complicate matters, play was suspended shortly after 4 p.m. ET on Friday, meaning many golfers started Saturday morning playing catchup.

Tournament officials are "confident" that the tournament will still end on Sunday, though, according to Riley Hamel of Golfweek.

While the weather hasn't been as bad as it was at the 2022 Players Championship—when multiple delays pushed the tournament into Monday—strong winds are expected throughout the weekend.

While fans can expect to see some positive highlights on Saturday, they should expect a fair amount of struggles as well.

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