Thomas shoots into contention at Atlanta

Reigning PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas eagled the par-five 18for a 66 on Friday, leaving him tied with England’s Paul Casey and WebbSimpson at the halfway point of the Tour Championship. The trio is atseven-under 133 after the second round of the fourth and finaltournament of the PGA Tour’s 2017 playoffs.Simpson and Casey each shot three-under 67 on Friday after startingtheir rounds tied for second place. Thomas, who has won five times thisseason, hit his 231-yard approach shot on the 590-yard final hole towithin six feet of the cup and made the putt for eagle.“I really felt like I played or had the opportunity to really godecently low today or post a pretty solid number out there,” the24-year-old Thomas said. “I had some good putts that I don’t know howthey didn’t go in.”Tied for fourth at six-under 134 is Patrick Reed, England’s Justin Rose(66), Gary Woodland (67) and Spain’s Jon Rahm (67). Rookie XanderSchauffele (66), US Open champion Brooks Koepka (69) and Jason Dufner(67) are tied for eighth at five-under 133.American Thomas can win the $10mn FedEx Cup playoff prize if he wins theTour Championship. He finished sixth in the tournament last year. “It’snice to have everything in my own hands and I know that if I just takecare of what I need to do, then it’s over with,” Thomas said.Casey stumbled with back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13, but then gatheredhimself and made a birdie at No. 16. He parred the final two holes.“Dropping a couple of shots on the holes I did, it just shows you don’tneed to do a lot wrong around here to make bogeys,” Casey said. “Itwould have been very easy to just kind of slip back in the middle of thepack and that’s not what I wanted to do.”Former US Open champion Simpson had to overcome a double-bogey at No. 13after a poor drive. Simpson made par on the his last five holes.Top-seeded Justin Spieth is tied for 15th after following hisfirst-round 67 with a 70.His first hole bogey was the first of four on the day. World number oneDustin Johnson carded a 69, and is tied with Spieth at three-under 137,four shots adrift of the leaders. “I felt like I hit it good, had a lot of opportunities, didn’t make anyputts,” Johnson said. “I just want to get it within striking distance.If I can get it within three, I would be happy.” First-round leader KyleStanley shot a three-over 73 and is also at three under at the halfwaystage.Leading second-round scores (USA unless noted)133 — Justin Thomas 67-66, Paul Casey (ENG) 66-67, Webb Simpson 66-67134 — Patrick Reed 69-65, Justin Rose (ENG) 68-66, Gary Woodland 67-67, Jon Rahm (ESP) 67-67135 — Xander Schauffele 69-66, Jason Dufner 68-67, Brooks Koepka 66-69,  136 — Jason Day (AUS) 69-67, Kevin Kisner 68-68,