Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is three shots behind American leader Bud Cauley at the halfway stage of the Cognizant Classic in Florida.

World number 1,258 Cauley is making just his second PGA Tour start since September 2020 after injury struggles following a car accident, external in 2018.

A bogey-free 65 at PGA National put the 33-year-old on 11 under.

McIlroy, the world number two, carded a second consecutive four-under-par 67 to reach eight under.

American Austin Eckroat and South African Garrick Higgo are on 10 under, while Englishman David Skinns and Ireland’s Shane Lowry are alongside McIlroy in a group of players on eight under.

Belgium’s Thomas Detry props up the leaderboard after he six-putted the par-four sixth hole, despite hitting his second shot to within 6ft.

He eventually walked off the green with a quadruple-bogey eight and carded an 80 to drop to 11 over.

Ten players will complete their second rounds on Saturday after play was suspended because of darkness at Palm Beach Gardens.

Cauley, who is playing on a medical exemption after he sustained six broken ribs, a collapsed right lung and a fractured left leg in the 2018 crash.

He returned to playing but had complications in late 2020 and needed follow-up surgeries.

Cauley returned to the developmental Korn Ferry Tour in January with two top-35 finishes and he made his PGA Tour comeback at last month’s Phoenix Open where he finished 65th.

“There were a lot of times where I thought that my career was over,” Cauley said.

“To be back here playing and playing well, it’s nice. It just makes me that much more happy that I kept after it and didn’t stop trying.

“My expectation was to come out and compete, and I felt like my game was in a good spot. Saying it is one thing, doing it is another.”