Tiger Woods was laboring early in his second round. Stuck at 2-over and staring at his second-consecutive missed cut, the 14-time major winner needed a boost to jumpstart his game.

So he did the only thing he could think of: he swapped out his right Nike shoe for a new wheel on the sixth hole. (Truthfully, the eyelet on the shoe had torn, requiring Woods to make the switch, mid-round.)

OK, changing kicks probably didn’t lead to Woods’ 4-under 68 at the Players Championship, but for some reason, the shoe-swap seemed to add a little pep to his step, as Woods reeled off four consecutive birdies — for only the second time this year — to make the cut with relative ease.

Even better? Woods is now only six back of the leaders going into the third round — something that didn’t even seem possible after his opening-round 74. That doesn’t mean he’ll be right there on Sunday, but after nine rounds of mediocre golf over the last couple of months, just seeing a 68 on the scorecard and being within striking distance has to feel like an accomplishment.

[Related: No. 1 Rory McIlroy misses cut at The Players Championship]

Woods did a lot of things right over his last his final 12 holes on Friday, but it was his ability to capitalize on the par-5s that allowed him to make up some serious ground on the leaders. After playing the previous 28 three-shotters in 4-under, Woods managed to go 3-under on TPC Sawgrass’ four par-5s.

“I have to play them better than I’ve played the par-5s, period,” Woods admitted. “We as players have to take care of the par-5s.”

That coupled with hitting 78 percent of his greens in regulation allowed Woods to remain in the hunt. After two years of bailing early at the Players due to injuries, it’ll be nice to see what he can do on the weekend with a couple more “reps.”

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Rory McIlroy’s used to being in contention on the weekend, but for the third consecutive time at the Players Championship, he’ll be packing his bags and heading home early.

Very few courses have McIlroy’s number, but based on his track record at TPC Sawgrass, it’s clear the course is winning the head-to-head battle.

With a 4-over 76 on Friday, he’s now failed to break par in six rounds at the Players Championship — a staggering figure when you look at the success he’s had abroad in the last year-plus. But as the 23-year-old mentioned on Thursday, there’s something about the course he can’t figure out.

“It doesn’t,” McIlroy said, when asked if the course suited his eye. “It’s very tricky.  I find it very tricky.  I really have to think about what I’m hitting off the tee.  Second shots and stuff are fine, it’s just tee shots for me that I struggle with.”

[Related: Tiger Woods gets a new tee shout at The Players: 'Light the candle!']

There’s no question TPC Sawgrass doesn’t suit his eye. Over the last two days, McIlroy managed to hit only 55 percent of his greens in regulation (tied for 116th in the field), and averaged 1.8 putts per GIR. Numbers can sometimes skew the story, but in this case, it’s clear the course has his number — to the point where you almost wonder if he’d like to take back his earlier comments about skipping last year’s event being a mistake.

But knowing McIlroy and the kind of competitor he is, I’m guessing he won’t let a couple poor starts deter him from coming back in the future. How do I know this? Because the guy made a promise, during his post-round press conference, that he’d come back in the future.

Now, I’m not sure if that verbal promise is binding, but considering PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School, he may want to get that in writing before McIlroy departs the Ponte Vedra Beach compound.

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As the first alternate in The Players Championship field, Brian Harman had to figure there was a pretty good chance he’d be teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass this week.

So he showed up on Thursday morning and hung around the clubhouse, cell phone in hand, waiting for the green light from tournament officials. Only the call never came.

The unfortunate thing for Harman was he actually made it into the field at 8:39 a.m. ET, when D.A. Points withdrew from the tournament with a back injury. But tour officials never informed Harman of his tee time.

Why? Because they didn’t have any idea that last week’s runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship had pulled out. Points decided to inform his playing partners, Carl Pettersson and Robert Garrigus, that he was a no-go on the first tee … right as his name was being announced.

Garrigus and Pettersson, who had already teed off, decided to go ahead as a twosome, leaving Harman in a lurch. As soon as officials got word, they rushed to inform Harman, who was playing ping-pong with caddie John Davenport, of the good news.

The only problem was Points’ late WD meant that even though Harman was in, there still wasn’t a spot for him in one of the upcoming threesomes. After discussing the issue for three hours, PGA Tour VP of Rules and Competition, Mark Russell, decided to let Harman go off as a single at 12:05 p.m. ET, right before the afternoon wave.

Considering the entire situation wasn’t Harman’s fault, the decision seemed extremely fair. Russell even admitted it was incredibly bizarre.

“In my 31 years on the golf tour, I can never remember a player withdrawing right before he’s supposed to play,” Russell said. “It happened very quickly. We didn’t have time to react. Once we were able to sit down and get our heads around this, figure out exactly what the situation is, we decided that Brian Harman had done everything that we had asked him to do.”

The funny thing is, this was the second week in which Russell has been forced to comment on a rules decision, after tour officials allowed Tiger Woods to take a free drop at the Wells Fargo, when they determined someone had pocketed Woods’ ball.

After waiting on pins and needles to see if he was in, Brian Harman, I’m going to bet, picks up a chair and sits on the first tee the next time he’s first alternate. There’s no way he wants to go through this ordeal again.

There’s only so much you can glean from looking at a golfer’s scorecard. A par on a hole may look like another ho-hum score, but unless you witnessed it for yourself, you likely have no idea if it was a two-putt par, or a hole-out from a greenside bunker.

The fact that Jhonattan Vegas walked away with three on the treacherous par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday was certainly viewed as a success. But if you saw the way he went about recording the score, you’d understand why the three probably should’ve had an asterisk mark next to it for the luckiest par of the day.

Vegas, who finished his first round of the Players Championship at 4-under, was certainly living right on the island hole. After hitting what he assumed was a tee shot destined for the water, Vegas watched as the ball landed within a couple feet of the hazard, took a soft bounce and rolled onto the walkway leading to the green.

Lucky shot, right? It was until Vegas chipped his next shot past the hole into the fringe … and then rolled in his putt for par.

Yep, just another ho-hum three. It may not be the most memorable par on the hole in tournament history, but it was a pretty impressive one nonetheless.

If Tiger Woods’ return to the golf summit is a “process,” it’s a process that’s taking a lot longer than anyone expected.

One week after uncharacteristically missing a cut at the Wells Fargo, Woods is in the same danger again at The Players Championship following an unspectacular 2-over round that left him nine shots behind leader Ian Poulter.

“Any kind of momentum I’d build, I would just shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole,” Woods said. “One of those days.” One of those years. Woods hasn’t missed two cuts in a single season since 2005, and absent a strong surge on Friday, he’ll miss two in a row.

Woods started out with a bogey on the 10th hole, where he began, and then swapped birdies and bogeys for many of the next 11 holes. He brought home his final six holes in even par, but kept giving back the strokes he’d earn with every birdie. He rarely looked at ease with his swing, his putts or his decision-making, and it showed in the final score of 74.

The Players isn’t anywhere near Woods’ best tournament; he’s only won it once. In the last two years, he’s bailed early because of injuries. And after his Thursday round, that might not seem like such a terrible idea again: He only birdied one of the par 5s, and hit only half the fairways and half the greens in regulation. Those kinds of stats won’t keep him around until the weekend.

[Slideshow: See images of first-round action at TPC Sawgrass]

Yes, yes, there will be the questions of “why focus attention on someone so far off the lead?” And yes, most of the people saying that haven’t even bothered to read this far. But here’s the truth: Even in a world of Rickie and Rory, a world where the new golf order is starting to assert itself, this is still Tiger’s game. This is still a world where the vast majority wants to know how Tiger is finishing, not who’s leading.

Of course, if McIlroy and Fowler keep winning, and if Tiger keeps fading before the weekend, that will very soon change.

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Every time we return to Sawgrass, I feel obligated to post that video above, the shot of a seagull swiping Steve Lowry’s ball back in 1998. It’s one of the many bizarre elements of golf’s most famous hole … or, at least, the one most likely to show up in motivational office posters. While we wait for the day’s results to arrive, let’s look back at a few other strange elements of the Island Green:

• There’s a dude buried at the 17th. Well, not really buried, more like “spread.” Longtime caddy Brad “The Russian” Krosnoff requested that his ashes be scattered in the waters around the 17th, and after his passing in 2003, friends complied.

• More than 120,000 golf balls hit the drink around the 17th every year. And who fishes ‘em out? Divers, who re-sell them for up to a buck apiece and can earn six figures for the salvage effort.

• Several replicas of the hole exist. One’s out in Texas, part of the infamous Tour-18 course, the wax museum of golf. A few years back, a scaled-down replica of the hole — a 30-yard pitch onto a tiny green — toured New York City.

• Of course, you can always play the real deal yourself and give #17 a go for only about three bills, depending on the season. As we’ve said for several years, though, Sawgrass is leaving money on the table with that arrangement. Why not pick one day a month — heck, one a year — and open the 17th up to anybody with a stick and fifty bucks? You get five shots at the green, and then adios till next year.

We’ll keep you up to date on how the legit players handle 17 and the rest of the course throughout the weekend.

Interesting change in the world of golf today, as the Symetra Tour, the LPGA’s developmental tour, will permit the use of push carts in competition.

Numerous smaller tours and college conferences permit the use of carts, of course, but their use at the highest levels of golf has always been a point of contention. (This isn’t really a case of golfers getting out of carrying their own bags; they do have caddies for that, remember.)

What this effectively means is less expense for golfers, who now can avoid the paycheck-devouring cost of paying a caddie for an entire tournament. Consider: at last month’s Riviera Nayarit Classic, the lowest finisher to cash was Lauren Doughtie at 75th. And for her efforts, she received a check for $342. No, there are no zeroes missing from that figure. The winner, Esther Choe, earned $18,750, or one-tenth what both Stacy Lewis earned for winning the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic, and also what Trevor Immelman earned for finishing last inside the cut at Augusta. See now why cutting costs might be a good idea?

The Symetra Tour has an impressive, 32-year record of sending players to the LPGA. Among its graduates are Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, Karrie Webb, Christina Kim and Meg Mallon.

As one Ireland’s top course, Ballybunion Golf Club is used to hosting some of the biggest names in golf. So when club officials received a call from a man purporting to be Mark O’Meara’s agent, they never had an inkling that anything was wrong.

As the Independent in Ireland reported, the man on the other end of the phone told the club that he was trying to set up a round of golf for O’Meara and Rory McIlroy, who were going to be in Dublin for the Heineken Cup semi-final rugby match between Ulster and Edinburgh.

Word traveled fast that McIlroy was going to be at the course, and within hours Ballybunion was scrambling to get everything in order for the two-time major winner, and the current No. 1-ranked player in golf.

Saturday rolled around and everything was in place for O’Meara and McIlroy’s arrival. But there was just one problem: The entire phone conversation was part of an elaborate hoax that left course officials feeling silly, and young fans let down.

Well used to VIP visitors, Ballybunion saw nothing amiss and swept into action with their preparations. Extra catering arrangements were made, caddies took precise measurements to ensure their yardages were spot on, and the Old Course was in pristine condition for Rory and his entourage.

Except they never showed — much to the disappointment of up to 100 young fans, club members and local media who had gathered from 7.30am. Most waited patiently until 11.30 when it became clear that McIlroy was a non-runner.

Oops. McIlroy wasn’t playing that week, so the story most likely seemed believable at first. Unfortunately, it turned out that all their setup work was for naught. Ballybunion was one of four clubs in Ireland stung by the hoax. (Lahinch, Doonbeg and the Adare Manor resort were the other three involved.)

What can we learn from this story? That Caller ID still has a place in the world. Someone should really consider giving it to Ballybunion as a Christmas gift this year.

Visor tip to Wei Under Par

It’s tournament time! The PGA Tour heads back to Florida for the unofficial “fifth major” — the Players Championship at famed TPC Sawgrass. Here’s a tournament primer to get you prepared for the week.

The course: If you’re going to be the home the “fifth major,” you better be worth your salt. Thankfully, TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course has lived up to its billing as one of the toughest tests in golf over the years. Water hazards are plentiful, as are some of the trickiest green complexes on tour. As Hunter Mahan said on Tuesday, “You really have to play this golf course from the green all the way backwards.” Even though it ranked as the 23rd-most difficult course on tour last season, the Stadium Course has a risk-reward finish that could be one of the best in golf. As we’ve seen in years past (See: Perks, Craig), the par-5, par-3, par-4 closing stretch can make or break the tournament on Sunday afternoon. At just over 7,200 yards, Sawgrass doesn’t require you to be long off the tee to succeed. Four of last eight Players Championship winners lead the field in GIR for the week, while three of the last seven winners lead the field in driving accuracy. There’s a reason why Rory McIlroy pulled the 5-wood out of the bag for a 2-iron. Length just isn’t that important. If anything, it’s more important that you’re on the correct side on the fairway so you can attack the accessible pin positions during the tournament.

The schedule: The tournament runs Thursday-Sunday. It’ll be broadcast on the Golf Channel from 1 to 7 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday; and on NBC from 2 to 7 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

The field: The Official World Golf Ranking will be well represented at the Players Championship, with 44 over the top 50 making the trip. All of the big names are here this week (except Bubba Watson, who decided to skip out on the tournament to spend time with his wife and infant son), including Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Tiger Woods, Hunter Mahan, Jason Day, Nick Watney, Sergio Garcia … and the list goes on and on. This is a major championship-quality field.

The video: Check out some of the memorable moments from the Players Championship’s history.

Your turn. Who are your picks for this week? Swing away!

So in an attempt to inject a bit more life and interest into tournaments, and because we’re all inveterate gamblers who are one bad card from being out on the streets, Jay Busbee and I are playing a golf version of a football suicide pool: We each pick one golfer per tournament and see how they do against each other, straight up. Victory over the other guy gets one point, victory in the tournament gets three points, and a tie between two of the three lands you half a point. (Double for the majors.) And when we burn a golfer, he’s done for the year. We turn our attention to one of our favorite tournaments of the year — the Players Championship

Wall: I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling mighty confident in my pick this week. That’s usually the kiss of death for any golfer I tab, but I’m still going to stick to my guns and roll with Lee Westwood. As I mentioned in the Players preview, four of the last eight winners at TPC Sawgrass have led the field in GIR for the week; and three of the past seven have also led the field in driving accuracy. To me, Westwood seems like the perfect pick. He’s currently leading the tour in GIR this year and ranks 33rd in driving accuracy. Plus, he finished fourth the last time he teed it up in 2010. I’m feeling unbeatable this week.

Busbee: Rory McIlroy. Yeah, I know I’m picking chalk here, but so what? McIlroy appears in command of both his head and his game, and while the course is going to play hot and fast this weekend, McIlroy seems able to adapt to changing conditions … except when he isn’t and he falls apart. Hopefully that Rory stayed over in Northern Ireland. Swing away, Rors!

Last Week: It’s actually been a while since there was a “last week.” After a lengthy hiatus, we’re brining Showdown back, starting with one of the highest profile events on the PGA Tour schedule. We’ll see how long it takes us to knock the rust off.

Current Score: Wall – 1.5, Busbee – 1.5.

Already Used: Wall - Gary Woodland, K.J. Choi, Martin Laird, Nick Watney. Busbee - Nick Watney, Webb Simpson, Bill Haas, Ben Crane.