Alex Cejka takes aim with his driver as he gets set to tee off on the 12th hole during the second round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Friday. His 5-under 67 put him on top of the leaderboard, two strokes in front of Ian Poulter.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Alex Cejka began his surprising run to the lead Friday in The Players Championship with a 10-foot birdie putt in the stillness of a glorious morning.

A smattering of applause drowned out the chirping of birds.

There were 14 fans, 13 marshals.

"It felt like a Monday afternoon practice round," Cejka said after a 5-under 67 gave him a two-shot lead over Ian Poulter.

That figures to change on the weekend full of possibilities.

The Players Championship is among the more unpredictable tournaments in golf. The TPC Sawgrass is so devilish that small mistakes can lead to big numbers. The field is so strong that even guys who started the week as an alternate have a chance to win. Jason Dufner is proof of that, among those in a tie for third.

Tiger Woods hit a rake and a spectator and almost the wrong fairway. From 45 yards away on a par 5, he tried to keep his chip short of the green, did just that, and made an important par. It added to a 69 that put him seven shots behind and left a smile on his face.

"I got myself back in the ballgame," Woods said.

Not many figured Cejka would be in the lead.

It was only two weeks ago when he couldn't feel his right arm, the product of a pinched nerve from surgery last year to replace a disk in his neck. He had an epidural last week, the numbness is almost gone, and Cejka nearly left the field in his wake.

He had six birdies in 11 holes and built a four-shot lead over the morning starters, a lead that held for most of the day until Poulter limited his mistakes and finished with a birdie for a 68.

"If you play the golf course properly, with good play you can score very well," Poulter said.

Cejka was at 11-under 133 and will be playing in the final group going into the weekend for the first time in nearly five years.

Neither of the top two players have ever won on the PGA Tour, and only one player in the 35-year history of this event has ever made this his first PGA Tour victory. An eclectic group four shots behind include Masters champion Angel Cabrera (65), former PGA champion David Toms (70) and Dufner (70), an alternate when he showed up Monday who earned a tee time through someone else's misfortune.

Woods, meanwhile, is lurking. He hit a few wild tee shots, but managed a birdie from one of them on the 14th hole when he caught a flat lie at the bottom of a slope and hammered an 8-iron over an oak tree to 25 feet.