Jordan Spieth admits he had his 'magic' short game to thank for closing the gap on leader Henrik Stenson with a much-improved display at the Tour Championship.
The world No 3 surged back in to contention with a round-of-the-day 66 at East Lake, picking up two birdies over his final four holes to close the only bogey-free card of the day.
Spieth, who missed the cut in the first two play-off events before finishing 13th in the BMW Championship, is one of five players who can automatically claim the FedExCup title with victory this week.
The 22-year-old has struggled in recent weeks with both his putting and his mental game, but was delighted to show signs of his best to recover from a difficult spell during the middle of his front nine to post an impressive round on Friday.
"Really good, considering the way I struck the ball," Spieth told Sky Sports 4. "My short game was magic today. I was really able to salvage the round around five and six to keep it going, keep some momentum on my side and eventually turn it under par.
"It was a struggle from tee to green for me, but when we got it around the green, we hit some fantastic up and downs and really some stress-free up and downs.
"Today was a huge round for me. I stayed very composed throughout the day, especially at that part of the round around the fifth, sixth and seventh.
"That was the key that maybe kept me in this tournament, not getting too down on myself. I feel so much better putting this week than I have over the last few weeks."
The leaderboard now has a familiar look for Spieth, who was second behind Stenson heading into the weekend in Atlanta in 2013, only to lose ground on that occasion with a one-over 71 on the Saturday.
Spieth, who lies second in the FedExCup standings, is looking to learn from that experience as he chases the FedExCup title and $10million bonus.
"I'm very excited and it's similar to two years ago in chasing Henrik when he's on his game," Spieth added. "Hopefully I can do a better job tomorrow to stay with him, because I don't think he's going to back down much.
"I've been getting frustrated too easily and today would've been a day where it would've been easy to do so with my ball striking not there, but because we stay composed, we had some easy pars and eventually make a couple of putts.
"He (Stenson) is on his game, he likes this course, he has won this before, so he's the guy to beat. If I can limit the black on the card, then we should be in business."
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