Webb Simpson opens a five-shot lead after tying the Sawgrass record by firing a 63.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — No one ever played a better round at the TPC Sawgrass than Webb Simpson. For 16 holes, anyway. With his sixth straight birdie on the back nine, Simpson became the first player to reach 11-under par for a single round at The Players Championship. The course record? Simpson couldn’t resist thinking about a 59. All he had to do was navigate the shortest and scariest hole Friday afternoon on the Stadium Course.

He hardly missed anything all day except the island green on No. 17. Splash! “Just the wrong club,” he said.

The consolation was enormous. Even with that double bogey, Simpson tied the Stadium Course record with a 9-under 63 and had a five-shot lead after 36 holes, the largest in the 45 years of this tournament.

“Everything is going in,” he said. “You feel like no matter what, you’re going to make it, and I grew up on an easy golf course so it reminded me of being back home, shooting low numbers. But at the same time, you’re at the TPC Sawgrass, so you know that trouble is everywhere, as you guys saw with me on 17.”

The sand wedge in the water on the 17th ruined his round, but not his day. Simpson couldn’t miss putts he wasn’t even trying to make, whether it was a 35-foot eagle putt on his second hole or a 30foot birdie putt up the slope and into the cup on the 15th .

Simpson was the seventh player to shoot 63 on the Stadium Course — five since 2013 — and his 15-under 129 tied the 36-hole record set two years ago by Jason Day.

Charl Schwartzel (66), Patrick Cantlay (68) and Danny Lee (66) were five shots behind.

Tiger Woods at least gets to return on the weekend. He made the cut on the number (1-under 143) after a 71 in the easier morning conditions. Woods was outside the cut line until Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas each made bogey on the 18th. Spieth three-putted from 35 feet, though he shot 68 and ended three straight years missing the cut. Rory McIlroy was inside the cut line until hitting into the water on the 17th and making double bogey.