ESPN Golf

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- How's this for a reversal of fortune: Craig Parry went from being one of the last ones to sneak under the cut line Friday to a spot in the top 10 of The Players Championship on Saturday.

That's what an 8-under 64 will do for a guy.

"It was an amazing round," Parry said. "I thought when I bogeyed the ninth hole (on Friday) that I was going to miss the cut. I'm in a bonus situation playing today."

Parry should have said he was in a birdie situation on Saturday. Starting the day at 2 over, Parry notched six birdies and two eagles against two bogeys. He hit 13 of 18 greens and 11 of 14 fairways, a contrast to the first two rounds when he combined to hit just 12 fairways.

"I was just trying to play the golf course and that's why I played really well," Parry said. "And two eagles in one round? It's amazing. I normally have two eagles in a year, and I think I have three already."

Parry sits just four strokes back of leader Adam Scott, who is 10 under. Another round like this and, well, Parry doesn't want to get that far ahead of himself.

"There are so many good players up there," Parry said. "It's hard to do it two days in a row, but I've given myself a chance. Yesterday, when I bogeyed the ninth hole, I didn't have a chance at all and now I've got a chance tomorrow. Wait and see what happened. I'm playing well and as long as I hit my driver straight, I'll be happy."

Paul Stankowski knows he'll be nervous on Sunday. And he can't wait.

After firing a 6-under 66 on Saturday, Stankowski moved into a fourth place tie at 7 under, just three strokes behind Scott.

"It's nice to be nervous. It means that I'm feeling something there," Stankowski said. "I have no idea how I'm going to play tomorrow, but it shouldn't be any different. I'm sure my emotions will be a little bit and my heart rate will be a little higher than it is right now. That's a given. I'm human."

But Stankowski also has the tournament in perspective. He knows he hasn't won a PGA Tour event in seven years, but he's not convinced winning is everything.

"I'd love to win here, obviously. I'd just love to win again," Stankowski said. "But it's hard to win out here and I'm content with plugging along. That's all I can do. I can't control anybody out here but myself. But I've got a great life. I've got two great kids and a fantastic wife. I've got a lot of things going for me."

But Stankowski does see a huge benefit to winning tomorrow.

"Winning here would be awesome. It would allow me to do some things I haven't been able to do the last few years -- like breathe," he said. "When you're playing year to year without an exemption, you've got no security. This game is very fickle in that a few bad weeks here and there and you're on the outside looking in."

Starting tomorrow, though, everyone will be looking at Stankowski.

Despite being tied for second at 8 under, Frank Lickliter won't be watching the scoreboard tomorrow.

"Why watch the leaderboard? Like I can do something about it other than my long name up there," Lickliter said.

If he plays like he did on the final five holes, Lickliter will have plenty to say about who wins The Players Championship. Lickliter, who owns a house in Ponte Vedra Beach and plays the Stadium course regularly, birdied four of the last five holes, including the final three holes -- considered by many to be among the toughest closing holes in golf.

A little local knowledge, perhaps? Hardly.

"This course is playing totally different than the way I see it the other 51 weeks of the year," Lickliter said. "So there are some things that helped me from playing here so much and there are a couple of things that hurt me, just because of my expectations of what's going on around the hole are totally different this week. In one aspect, yeah, I do have some local knowledge. In another aspect, I have to be very careful about what my expectations are of the holes."