Comeback kid Cauley grabs lead at Cognizant Classic, SA's Higgo lurks

Bud Cauley, back on the PGA Tour after a three year injury absence, produced two late birdies to grab the outright second-round lead at the Cognizant Classic at PGA National Resort on Friday.

The Floridian shot a six-under par round of 65 on the Champion course to move to 11-under for the tournament, a stroke ahead of Austin Eckroat and South African Garrick Higgo.

With light fading, Cauley sank a 15-footer on the par-4 16th for birdie and then finished off his round by chipping out of the rough to 11 foot to sink another birdie.

"It's felt great. I've been hitting the ball solid. Short game has been sharp around here, which you need. You're not going to hit every green," said Cauley.

"I've been holing a lot of nice putts, which has been a lot of help," he added.

Leading second-round scores on Friday in the US PGA Tour Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (USA unless noted, par-71):

131 - Bud Cauley 66-65

132 - Austin Eckroat 65-67, Garrick Higgo (RSA) 67-65

133 - Kevin Yu (TPE) 66-67, Victor Perez (FRA) 67-66

134 - David Skinns (ENG), Andrew Novak 65-69, Pan Cheng-tsung (TPE) 66-68, Shane Lowry (IRL) 67-67, Jake Knapp 68-66, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 67-67, Cameron Young 65-69, Sam Ryder 66-68

135 - Lee Kyoung-hoon (KOR) 69-66, Matthieu Pavon (FRA) 67-68, Parker Coody 69-66

Cauley returned to tour action at Scottsdale last month after his absence from a series of injuries and complications from a car accident in 2018.

The crash occurred at the 2018 Memorial Tournament and left him with six broken ribs, a collapsed right lung and fractured left leg.

He returned to play later that year but complications emerged in 2020 and he was forced to undergo surgery before a long rehab process.

"There were a lot of times