Jason Day believes he can storm up the leaderboard during the business end of the Arnold Palmer Invitational if the world No.2 can conquer one final frontier - his wayward driver.
The Australian hit eight from 14 fairways during the second round of his title defence at the US PGA Tour's Bay Hill event in Florida, as he continues to struggle off the tee.
However, Day scrambled superbly to grind out a one-under-par 71 during Friday's second round, climbing to three under for the tournament.
He'll have a seven-shot deficit to overcome during the third round, with American Charley Hoffman (66) climbing to 10-under, a one-shot lead over Argentine Emiliano Grillo (68), with Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) alone in third place at eight-under.
Queenslander Day has bagged eight victories on Tour since 2015, including his first major at the US PGA Championship that year, on the back of dominant displays with the driver.
From five events in 2017, the athletic 29-year-old ranks 194th in driving accuracy, finding just 51.26 per cent of fairways.
However, Day is confident he's one cylinder away from getting back to his best.
"I believe I can get the driver going, that will free me up," Day said.
"Because my iron swing feels good, my chipping, my bunker play and my putting all feel really solid."
Marc Leishman emerged as the leading Australian with a red-hot 66, during which he hit 12 of 14 fairways and made a series of long putts to climb to seven-under, tied for fourth.
"I feel like this year I've played pretty well, better than my results show but I haven't got a lot out of it so it was nice to finally do that today," Leishman said about shooting the equal-lowest round on day two.
"Every birdie chance I had I felt I could make. It was great to feel like that over the ball and hopefully that can continue this weekend."
Greg Chalmers shot an even-par 72 to be three-under the card and share 13th with compatriot Day, Queenslander Cameron Smith is tied-26th at one under with Victorian teenager Ryan Ruffels (74) while Aaron Baddeley's 75 left him one over.
Rod Pampling (five over), Geoff Ogilvy (11 over), Steven Bowditch (14 over) and amateur Curtis Luck (disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard) failed to make the weekend.
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