6/4 favourite McIlroy competing without pressure

McIlroy insists he doesn’t “need a win” and is happy to focus on maintaining a high standard of golf as he searches for his first title in a year.

Rory McIlroy says he’s heading into the weekend at the Players Championship without any expectations despite moving into a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the ‘fifth major’.

The Northern Irishman has enjoyed a strong start to 2019, carding five top-six finishes on the PGA Tour already, including a tie for sixth at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The four-time major winner has managed to transfer his good form to Sawgrass this week and moved onto 12-under for the tournament with a strong showing on the back nine on Friday.

The 29-year-old carded three birdies and an eagle heading for home as he signed for a superb seven-under 65 to join Ryder Cup team mate Tommy Fleetwood at the top of the leaderboard.

McIlroy is now the 6/4 favourite with Betfred to end his year-long wait for a win, while Fleetwood is a 3/1 chance after he shot a 67, mixing an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys.

The duo have a three-shot advantage at the top of the Players Championship leaderboard and McIlroy admits he has put himself in a good position to succeed, although he claims he’s not thinking about that ahead of the third round.

“I just need to keep seeing red numbers. That’s all I need to keep seeing,” he told Sky Sports.

“I don’t need a win. I’m not putting myself under pressure to – again, winning is a by-product of doing all the things that I’m doing well.

“If you look at my driving stats, how I’m hitting my irons, all that adds up to hopefully shooting the best score or the lowest score of the week. So that’s how I need to approach it. It’s not if I just focus on winning, what goes into that?

“Yes, that’s the end goal, but there’s so many different little mini-goals you need to accomplish to get to that point.”

Chasing McIlroy and Fleetwood are a group of four players, including England’s Ian Poulter after he shot a 66 featuring an eagle, seven birdies, a bogey and one double bogey to move onto nine-under.

Poulter (18/1 Players Championship Outright) is joined on the same mark by Americans Brian Harman and Jim Furyk and Mexican Abraham Ancer, while 2016 Players Championship winner Jason Day (14/1) is a further shot back.

Odds subject to change.