Spaniard storms into lead at TPC

Jon Rahm felt like every shot would be good and most of them were yesterday as he posted an eight-under 64 and built a oneshot lead over Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood in The Players Championship.

Five shots behind going into the third round, Rahm shot 30 on the back nine at the TPC Sawgrass and surged into the lead when McIlroy and Fleetwood couldn’t keep pace. His only bogey was on the sixth hole, and even that landed next to the pin until running over the back.

‘‘Didn’t miss many shots out there,’’ Rahm said. ‘‘Really, really confident with my irons. Every time I stepped up, I felt like I was going to hit a good shot.’’

There were too many to single out for the 24-year-old Spaniard, who was at 15-under 201.

McIlroy and Fleetwood struggled from the start and both eventually recovered, McIlroy sooner than Fleetwood.

McIlroy muffed a chip and had to scramble for bogey on the opening hole, hit a chip over the green on the par-five second hole and turned potential birdie into bogey, and that was as bad as it got. He still was under par at the turn by running off three birdies, including a four-iron to a foot on the hardest par three on the course at No 8.

But after a two-putt birdie on the par-five 11th, McIlroy’s chances dried up. Even so, he was bogey-free over the last 16 holes and shot 70.

Fleetwood missed a 30-inch putt on the opening hole and took double bogey, and he fell three shots behind through seven holes.

He holed a 30-foot birdie putt on No 8 after McIlroy tapped in for his birdie, and then picked up four birdies where they were available for his 70.

‘‘It was just a grind,’’ he said. Five players were within five shots of Rahm.

That group included Brandt Snedeker (65) and Keegan Bradley (68), and Dustin Johnson, the No 1 player in the world who played the par fives at even and still shot a 69.