Scottie Scheffler in pole position heading into final round of THE PLAYERS Championship

The American moved to 14 under with a 65, with Min Woo Lee just behind on 12 under.

"I just think it's a good test tee to green," Scheffler told pgatour.com about TPC Sawgrass.

"I think what makes me a little nervous is the stuff kind of around. You don't really know if you're going to get a good or bad break. Anytime you're hitting fairways and greens out here it's pretty scorable, but the minute you miss a fairway, depending on where you end up in one of these little hollows or pot bunkers or something like that you can get in weird spots pretty quick."

A new course record was set by Tom Hodge with a brilliant 10-under 62, while Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai are five off the lead.

Rai made a hole in one at the 17th, making it the first time the tournament has ever had multiple holes-in-one in the same week after Hayden Buckley made one in the first round.

Scheffler will return to the world number one spot if he wins the title on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Rory McIlroy failed to make the cut as the second round was finally completed on Saturday following storm delays.

The Northern Irishman missed out by three shots after finishing the second round with a one-over-par 73 on Friday, following on from a first-round 76.

"It's just the time management," said McIlroy, who also organises players-only meetings and serves as a player director on the Tour Policy Board.

"The golf out here, that's fine, but it's just more the time at home to make sure you're getting prepared, to make sure that you're doing everything you can to be ready once you show up to these weeks.

"That's where I've maybe sacrificed a little bit of time with some of this other stuff."

Jerry Kelly became the oldest player to ever make the cut, with the 56-year-old American just about easing through to the final round.