Phil Mickelson watches his ball as he chips to the 18th green during the second round of the Players Championship Friday. Mickelson leads the tournament with a total of 5-under after two rounds.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Phil Mickelson was disappointed with his score and thrilled with his position on the leaderboard.

Lefty overcame some “loose” shots with several clutch putts and a couple of fortunate bounces, settling for an even-par 72 in the second round of The Players Championship on Friday and a one-shot lead over Nathan Green of Australia.

“Had I played well, this is a day I could have shot 3 or 4 under and pulled away,” said Mickelson, who finished at 5-under 139. “A lot of guys shot under par. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. But by the same token, I didn’t do well enough to shoot even par. So I’ll take it.”

Mickelson twice hit the flag, nearly holed out from the fairway and hit a 6-iron on the par-5 16th hole that caught the perfect bounce and stopped 6 feet away for eagle. He also made every putt from inside 10 feet.

He needed all the help he could get, too.

Mickelson hit only 11 fairways in the first two rounds — only Retief Goosen with eight has hit fewer — but he got by at TPC Sawgrass with a solid short game that the Stadium Course allows because of tightly groomed collection areas around the greens.

The first-round co-leader dropped out of the lead with bogeys on the seventh and eighth hole, then hit the flag with a wedge on the par-5 ninth, getting a break when the ball caromed only 6 feet away to set up birdie. Mickelson also hit the flag on the 14th hole, another good break, as the ball likely was headed through the green.

But there was no luck involved on the 16th.

After a perfectly played drive, he hit 6-iron from 208 yards and caught the slope on the first bounce, which fed the ball to 6 feet for an eagle putt that put him back in the lead.

Following all the thrills, two simple pars at the end of his round kept him atop the leaderboard at The Players for the first time going into the weekend. He found dry land on the island green at the par-3 17th, then saved par from the rough on the 18th to remain at 5 under.

Peter Lonard (72), Sean O’Hair (69), Carl Petterson (71) and Rod Pampling (71) were two strokes behind.

Mickelson was among seven players who had at least a share of the lead Friday.

Lonard took two double bogeys on his back nine, Petterson finished bogey-bogey and O’Hair three-putted the 18th to lose costly shots.

Tiger Woods tried to fight back, but he did a better job with his words than his clubs.

Woods finally picked up a birdie on his second hole, but he spent most of the sunny afternoon wondering if he would make the cut. He wasn’t in the clear until a two-putt birdie on the 16th hole, dry land on the 17th and another par save for a 73, leaving him at 4-over 148 to make it by one stroke.

The island green didn’t claim nearly as many victims in the second round — only 21 on Friday, making it 71 for the week to break the tournament record with two rounds left.