PONTE VEDRA BEACH - Ludvig Aberg remained on top of the leaderboard at THE PLAYERS for the second day in a row and tomorrow will be his third. He’s now three shots ahead of the field. It’s stressful to be there. It’s really stressful to do it for three days in a row, which will happen Sunday.

You just have to ask anybody who’s done it.

“I have to really calm myself down. Talk slower, walk slower,” he said. “It feels like you have a little target on your back maybe.”

I think it’s probably like a Scandinavian sauna where you run from serious heat to the snow where you — supposedly — roll in it.

Now, I’ve never done quite that, but my grandpa’s saunas were next to a lake, and in the summer, my cousin Karen and I would be last in, after the heat the adults liked had kind of subsided. And we’d run out into the lake and then back to the sauna a couple times. For sure it’s a shocker the first few times you try it.

So, while Aberg was testing his mettle and showing he could get to the top and stay there, everybody else was being juggled. Up, down and around.

Michael Thorbjornsen, which we’re told means Son of Thunder Bear, was five shots back at the start and clawed his way up to second. Thorbjornsen sounds Scandinavian, but he’s really from Massachusetts. Somebody in his family wasn’t a few generations ago. He lives 20 to 30 minutes north and plays a lot of golf at TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course.

Cameron Young has played very well for several years and had many top 10 finishes before he got over the hump and won last fall.

“It's pretty much if you hit a bad shot you make a double for the most part. So, there's not much room for error and, yeah, it’s taxing,” he said after his round.

He still thought he had a chance.

“I don’t expect him to give me much,” Young said about Aberg. “But I also feel like could I shoot 8- or 9-under, so like we saw with JT last year, he shot 10, you know. Ludvig shot 9 yesterday, there’s been a bunch of 7s.”

Young is in third, but he had plenty of birdies and bogeys before he settled there.

Xander Schauffele started in second and dropped significantly and then ended in a massive tie for fourth. Massive because there are five others tied with him, including Matthew Fitzpatrick, Brian Harman, Viktor Hovland and Corey Connors.

There was a gaggle of golfers in 10th, too, including Robert MacIntyre, Sahith Theegala, Austin Smotherman, Jacob Bridgeman and Seth Straka. Five Guys. Sounds like a restaurant.

But, what that means is if Ludvig can’t hold on, there are 13 players who will step up to fight it out. And believe me, they are going to fight hard for this one.