Woods, Mickelson, Furyk hope to make noise this weekend

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Four of the world's top five players are at TPC Sawgrass this week. One is leading THE PLAYERS Championship and eyeing the most important victory of his career. The other three have been left in his dust, each one staring up at a mountain of names on the leaderboard, each one chomping at the bit in hopes of making some noise this weekend.

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WEEKEND NOISE: Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods hope to make big moves back into contention the next two days. Column COURSE INSPECTION: Surprised by the low scores? You shouldn't be. Softened TPC Sawgrass will yield an unpredictable weekend. Column SUPER SLOCUM: Heath Slocum quietly moved up the leaderboard with a strong start and a superb finish. Story CUT WATCH: John Merrick's closing birdie moved the cut line and sent several stars home early. Story GLOVER LIFTS JINX: Lucas Glover accomplished a first in his fifth career PLAYERS start. He hopes more come this weekend. Story VIVA ITALIA: Francesco Molinari faced a tough decision. His choice paid off for him and his caddie. Story WESTWOOD'S WINDOW: Lee Westwood again has an opportunity for that major U.S. victory. Is he ready to seize it? Story

If you want to see tournament leader Lee Westwood, the No. 4 player in the world, then go ahead and sleep in late Saturday. He's in the last group, of course. But if you want to see No. 1 Tiger Woods, No. 2 Phil Mickelson or No. 5 Jim Furyk tee off, better set your alarm for an earlier wake-up call.

Say hello to the world's most talented dewsweepers.

OK, so technically, none of the three will be first on the course when the third round begins. But Furyk, the hometown favorite who made the cut on the number, is in the second group out at 8:55 a.m. ET, while Mickelson and Woods, each at 3 under -- nine shots off the pace set by Westwood -- start their respective rounds a few groups later.

While those early tee times won't get them much live time on NBC when the broadcast begins, it could be a huge advantage for the three. If TPC Sawgrass is going to yield low scores Saturday, it will likely be in the morning with the better scoring conditions, before the sun starts beating down on the course and the wind picks up.

And if you doubt that a TOUR pro can make up huge ground on the weekend, just look back to last week's Quail Hollow Championship. Rory McIlroy made the cut on the number, then rallied on the weekend, shooting 66-62 to win his first PGA TOUR title.

No one expects a 62, but perhaps a 65 or something close to it might be out there tomorrow.

"That is the goal," Mickelson said after his 1-under 71. "They call Saturday moving day. That's what guys at 2-, 3-, 4-under par are going to have to do. They're going to have to shoot something in the mid-60s.

"And though it looks like it may not be enough, I think it will be. I think it will get it right back in the tournament. Because, again, in the afternoon it's playing much different, and it will be hard for the guys to pull away."

Sounds simple. But defending champion Henrik Stenson, who was in the group at 1 under that appeared to have squeezed into the weekend before John Merrick's late birdie putt on 18 moved the cutline, thinks TPC Sawgrass may be too forgiving this weekend to allow the early guys to take advantage.

"There's always a chance to move up if you get out early in the morning and make a move," he said. "But I don't think the course is playing hard enough this year to allow that, given the softer conditions of the greens."

And that's the crux of the matter. If the Stadium Course gets progressively tougher throughout the day, then Mickelson, Woods and Furyk -- and really, anybody with an early tee time -- should make a rapid climb up the leaderboard with a good round.

But the surprise this week is how vulnerable TPC Sawgrass has been. The cutline of 2 under matches the tournament record for lowest cutline.

One other point -- it may not only take a great 18 holes to get back in contention, but a great 36 holes. Westwood has been playing solid golf all year, and doesn't appear to have any hangover after failing to nail down the Masters last month. He won't be giving this tournament away, you can be sure of that.

Thus, it may take a couple of rounds in the 60s for Woods, Mickelson or Furyk to claim the title on Sunday. But recent history isn't on their side.

No player in the previous two years of THE PLAYERS has been able to post consecutive rounds in the 60s on the weekend. The last time it happened was in 2007 when four players did it, including Mickelson, who shot a pair of 69s to claim his first PLAYERS title.

Woods also produced a couple of sub-70 rounds -- 66-67, to be exact -- when he won here in 2001.

"Well, you're this far back, it's still a process," Woods said. "You've still got to put together 36 good holes and see what happens. Hopefully, this golf course will toughen up a little bit."

And if it does, then losing a little sleep on Saturday will be worth it.