Atlanta. GA …

Jason Day was delighted to bouce back from dropping three shots in succession from his 12th hole to birdie two of his closing three holes in a round of 67 to stay well in sight of the leaders heading to the weekend rounds of the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Day ended his round sharing 11th place at four-under par and only three back of the leading trio of England’s Paul Casey (67) and the American pair of Justin Thomas (66), and with the reigning U.S. PGA winner eagling his last hole, along with former U.S. Open champ, Webb Simpson (67).

In fact, the leaderboard in the $US 8.5m event is so bunched there is 23 players in the 30-player field at level par or better.

The biggest surprise is the form of golfing hearthrob, Rickie Fowler who is lying 29th at a shock seven-over par.

Jason Day making a point after birding two of his closing three holes on day two of the Tour Championship. (Photo – www.golfbytourmss.com)

Day finished T10th when he last contested the Tour Championship in 2015 and fourth a year earlier, and with his best scoring East Lake effort a pair of 67s to start his 2014 challenge.

He matched those 67s on day two in continuing hot and very humid conditions and after his round spoke of his delight in fighting back with birdies on 16 and 18.

“It was so nice to see that one drop and the last and I have made a ton of birdies over these two days, which is nice,” he said.

“Making a lot of birdies is good.  All I need to do is just tidy up a few things in my game, and if I can just freewheel the swing a little bit out there on the weekend, I might give it a good shot.

“The middle part of my round wasn’t very good, I had three bogeys on the chart and I just unfortunately had two three‑putts.  I would like to tidy that up but I think ‑‑ not to be too concerned but I just really want to tidy the driving up, give myself more opportunities.

“I just feel like if I’m on the fairway I have a really good shot at making birdie.  So two days left, hopefully I can do that.”

In contrast, Leishman looks drained managing just two birdies, including one at 18, but also posting three bogeys in his 71 to be sharing 24th place at two-over par.

Sadly, the spark the Victorian enjoyed for four days last week in suburban Chicago is clearly missing on a course just minutes from the Atlanta CBD.

In fact, Leishman could manage just four of 14 fairways and three less than day one while the new World No. 15 hit just 10 of 18 greens in regulation.

“I drove it poorly today and I am just not hitting it how I would like to,” he said.

“I guess my energy-levels might have a lot to do with that and in saying that I slept great last night.

“I have been hitting some great drives out there but just not on the fairway and there is a premium on driving it well around here, and I am just not driving it well.

“One benefit is that there is no cut this week, so I do have a guaranteed four rounds and while it seems closes to being really good, I am just hoping I can drive it well tomorrow and shoot a low one and get myself back in it.

“There is no alarm bells ringing as I am only missing fairways by a small margin, like two to three yards.”