Rory McIlroy on course to miss cut at storm-hit Players Championship

A first-round 76 at TPC Sawgrass left the Northern Irishman with an uphill battle and things did not improve in his second round, with McIlroy bogeying the fifth and then double bogeying the sixth before a birdie to stand at six over par after 10 holes.

That is five shots adrift of the projected cut mark and 14 behind joint leaders Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Svensson.

None of the afternoon starters were able to finish their rounds, with play halted just before 4.30pm local time because of the threat of lightning and not due to resume until Saturday morning.

McIlroy began the event as one of two players along with Scottie Scheffler who could potentially overtake Jon Rahm as world number one.

The trio were due to play together on Saturday but Spaniard Rahm, who tops the FedExCup standings, withdrew prior to his second round through illness.

Scheffler fared significantly better before play was suspended, moving to five under par with birdies at the ninth and 10th.

South African Bezuidenhout and Canadian Svensson were both four under par for their rounds through 14 and 11 holes respectively.

They sit two shots ahead of Ben Griffin, Min Woo Lee and Collin Morikawa, with overnight leader Chad Ramey dropping to four under following a disastrous 17th.

Unheralded Ramey, who began his round on the ninth hole, made the perfect start, birdieing two of his first three holes, only to hit two balls in the water on the 17th and take a quadruple bogey seven.

Danny Willett is the leading British player at three under for both his round and overall, while Tyrell Hatton, Justin Rose and Aaron Rai are a shot further back.

One man counting his lucky stars, meanwhile, is former world number one Jordan Spieth, who looked set to miss the cut when he struck a wayward tee shot towards the water on his final hole only for it to hit a spectator's knee, bounce back onto the fairway and set up an eagle.