But there was Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), Rory McIlroy (No. 2) and Xander Schauffele (No. 3) standing on a tee box together in the second round of The Players Championship, giving the thousands of fans surrounding them at 17 a glimpse of what golf should be on a week-in-week-out basis.

Schauffele, just like Scheffler, recently returned after an injury, so it is difficult to give a precise answer as to what his capacities and possibilities are at the moment. Rory McIlory celebrated at this competition in 2019,

Lucas Glover, J.J. Spaun and Camilo Villegas each shot 6-under 66, but the top of the leaderboard is jammed after Thursday.