WITH a bonus pot of $10m (£6.1m) on offer for the man who finishes top of the FedEx Cup standings next weekend after the Tour Championship at East Lake, Atlanta, the main motivation for the diminishing band of contenders is the lure of the dollar.
But not, apparently, for Sergio Garcia. He excused himself from last week’s tournament in Boston, the second of the four-part series, to take a swift holiday and recharge his batteries so that he will be fresh and eager for the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
Garcia has certainly been energised. He led the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills, the third of the FedEx series, after a second-round 64 that left him eight under par, with Ryan Palmer one adrift and Rory McIlroy two shots behind after a second successive 67.
As usual, Garcia’s ball striking was almost immaculate, and for once his putter did not spoil the party. He took 21 putts in his 18 holes, which is thought to be the lowest of his career.
That figure was helped by the eagle he made on the par-four seventh hole, where he holed a lob-wedge shot from 128 yards.
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For the second round running, Garcia dropped a shot on the eighth, but that was his sole blemish. He produced a fine, fighting finish, saving his par on the 17th despite splashing into the water, and holing a curling putt on the last for a birdie.
Unfortunately Garcia, who should have been grateful, was not entirely satisfied and his familiar hang-dog expression hung around. “I need to feel like I played better than I did over the past two days,” he said.
Already, Garcia made it clear, he has the Ryder Cup firmly in his mind. Without a major championship to his name, it has brought him his greatest joy in the game. It has also brought his worst despondency. In 2010, when his form was wretched and he found no pleasure in hitting golf balls, he could only watch as a vice-captain at Celtic Manor.
That was no fun at all for him and it was his determination to be part of the team once more that has led to his resurgence as a world-class player. With 15 Ryder Cup team players on view — six from Europe, nine from the United States — form rather than potential profit is more relevant for most observers, not least Paul McGinley and Tom Watson, the captains.
They will have noted that Garcia, McIlroy and Henrik Stenson are in good order for Europe, while Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, who were all within five shots of the halfway lead in Colorado, are all in form for the Americans. Watson, a rollercoaster player if ever there was one, is on the up. “The course is very tough,” he said after his 66. “I’m just out there trying to make pars and maybe a couple of eagles.”
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That hardly sounds like Watson. And he didn’t play like it. On the par-five 17th he smashed his drive 364 yards, then struck a nine iron to six feet and holed the putt for an eagle. Even allowing some 10 per cent extra distance for altitude, it was prodigious hitting.
Fowler was the steadiest man on the course, compiling a bogey-free 66 with an assurance that suggests he will have a significant part to play at Gleneagles. Four of the American team appear to have lost form. Hunter Mahan, Webb Simpson, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed were all at the rear of the field at halfway, needing low numbers to make the top 30 who go on to East Lake.
There are no worries about McIlroy. He had one of those days when he was missing his targets and getting his distances wrong. He might easily have crashed out of contention; not so long ago he would have done. But he stuck to his task, made many saves with adept chips, pitches and putts and had his reward over the finishing stretch. McIlroy made three birdies in a row from the 15th hole, including two long birdie putts, and finished with a broad smile. “It’s amazing what a difference a good finish makes,” he said.
Since only a smouldering McIlroy was still right up there, he will surely win today should he catch fire.