Jason Dufner battles back after poor start

JASON Dufner rode out an early wobble to fight his way back to the top of the leaderboard at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving.

The overnight leader heading into day four, the American dropped shots on the second and third holes today, losing his grip on the competition in the process.

But birdies on the fourth, fifth and seventh improved his score to nine under after seven holes, and he shared the lead with playing partner JJ Henry, who was two under through the same number of holes.

Ominously for the lead duo, though, they were being hotly pursued by Phil Mickelson.

The four-times major winner went five under through 13 holes to close to within two shots of them, with time the only obvious reason as to why he may not mount a serious challenge. The same goes for Ken Duke, five under through 15 and seven under for the tournament, although Marc Leishmann (eight under at the turn) and Dicky Pride (eight under after seven) may feel more optimistic.

Joe Durant also shaved three shots off his score through nine to sit two behind the leaders, with Jason Day alongside him.