Two over after just three holes of the championship in extreme wind on Thursday, Herbert had thoughts of being on the first flight out on Friday night.

But two birdies and an eagle in his final four holes will see Herbert enter the weekend in a share of sixth at 7-under, four shots back of leader Taylor Pendrith (61) and with the opportunity to post crucial FedEx Cup points early in the season.

After fighting back to post 1-under 70 on day one, Herbert went out in 3-under 33 on Friday with birdies at two, six and seven but it was the late flurry that catapulted him up the leaderboard.

A birdie at the 15th was followed by a bogey at the hardest hard on the golf course – the par-3 16th – before an eagle at the par-5 17th and a closing birdie put him in position to push for a best finish on the PGA Tour.

“All of a sudden it looks like a round that was probably a lot better than it was,” Herbert said of his impressive finish.

“I really struggled in Napa and Jackson and I got my coach (Dominic Azzopardi) here for the last two weeks.

“I want to say we made big changes, but we’re probably getting it back to where it should have been, so that’s starting to feel a bit more normal and natural now.

“I’ve obviously hit 36 holes worth of shots where I can sort of trust it and feel like I’ve got some results to look back on to feel like I can trust the golf swing that I’m trying to make.

“It’s been a good test out in the wind as well. If it was going to break down and show up that it wasn’t ready, it would have done it, but it’s held up quite nicely.”

The fifth-highest ranked player in the field this week, Herbert has missed the cut in each of his first two starts as a PGA Tour member.

A graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to earn his card, Herbert is embracing the pressure to play well early and secure a more consistent schedule for the remainder of the season.

“There’s a lot of pressure on right now. It’s obviously re-ranked nicely, but then the pressure’s still on after that and if you don’t re-rank, the pressure’s still on to play well,” Herbert added.

“It’s pressure all season, so you’ve kind of just got to accept that that’s the nature of the beast and that’s what goes with our line of work.

“We get rewarded for it quite nicely from a financial point of view and from a tournament perks point of view. We get to come to Bermuda for a week and hang out here.

“A little bit of stress and pressure, I think we can deal with that.”

Kiwi Danny Lee is at 8-under through two rounds to be in a tie for fourth with Brett Drewitt (66) and John Senden (70) the only other Aussies to make the cut.

Stephanie Kyriacou remains third on the Ladies European Tour order of merit after finishing tied for 11th at the Dubai Moonlight Classic and Todd Sinnott is the best-placed Aussie early in the third round of the Japan Golf Tour event in Ibaraki in a tie for 33rd.