Inspired by fellow Australian frontrunners Marc Leishman and Jason Day, Cameron Smith knows he can go low during the closing rounds of the BMW Championship.
Sitting at 56th in the FedEx Cup standings, the 24-year-old Brisbane native needs a solo fourth-placed finish at Chicago's Conway Farms to progress to the 30-man Tour Championship finale in Atlanta next week.
Smith, who bagged a first PGA Tour win at the Zurich Classic in April, gave himself a red-hot chance at making the finale of the $US67 million play-offs series with a three-under-par 68 during Friday's second round elevating him to eight-under sharing seventh.
Smith sits eight shots back of compatriot Leishman, who carded a sizzling 64 to set the halfway pace at 16-under, three shots ahead of world No.9 Day (65) and Rickie Fowler (64) in a tie for second.
Watching Victorian native Leishman blitz the field with rounds of 62-64, and fellow former world No.1 Day bag a hole-in-one, has Smith fired up to have a big weekend.
"Yeah, I can't wait to get out there for these last two rounds." Smith told AAP.
"It's definitely one of those courses where if you strike it well and roll some good putts you can go really low, as Jason and Marc have shown over the first two rounds."
Knowing a berth at the Tour Championship unlocks a ticket to all four of golf's majors in 2018, Smith has given himself a green light to attack Conway Farms.
"Yeah I love the big events - they get me fired up," said Smith.
"Knowing I had already made the BMW probably affected my concentration a little in the first two FedEx Cup play-offs events.
"But now I know I need to play well to make the Tour Championship.
"I'm enjoying the pressure."
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