Aug 23, 2008 - 12:05 AM
0 shoutsBy Simon Lewis PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
PARAMUS, New Jersey (Ticker) - Steve Stricker admitted it was impossible to keep the Ryder Cup out of his mind as he raced into the halfway lead at The Barclays on Friday.
The American missed out on an automatic team place when Ben Curtis knocked him out of the running with a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills 12 days ago.
That left Stricker, 41, needing to convince USA team skipper Paul Azinger that he was worthy of one of the four captain's picks at his disposal for next month's clash with Europe at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.
With decision day for those selections looming on September 2, the day after the conclusion of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston, Stricker came into this week's event at Ridgewood Country Club knowing he had to lay down a marker.
"I've got two tournaments going on within one," Stricker admitted. "That's basically what I feel like. That Ryder Cup is there a couple of weeks away when he makes that decision, and I'm trying like heck to keep it out of my mind, but it's nearly impossible.
"I want to make that team, and I want to be on there. I think I could help that team. I think I would be a good addition, but it's hard when I'm thinking about that and when I'm trying to play golf here, too.
Stricker managed quite nicely on Friday with a 7-under-par 64, moving him into the lead at 10-under - two shots clear of another Ryder Cup hopeful, Hunter Mahan.
"I feel a little more pressure to tell you the truth coming into this week, just because of that reason trying to make the team," Stricker said. "Like I say, I've got two things going on at one time and I'm trying my best to separate them out."
Stricker said he would relish the chance to be a 41-year-old Ryder Cup rookie.
"It would mean a lot. Whenever us players play, and you play at a high level for a period of time, that becomes a goal," the Wisconsin native said. " It's a goal with every U.S. player out here is to try to be part of that team. Even though it sounds like it's nerve-wracking and a tough week, you want to be a part of it; to experience that and to play for the country and to just take it all in and see what it's all about."
Stricker has played on Presidents Cup teams before, but the team dynamic only really struck him at last year's match against the Internationals in Montreal.
"To be a part of a team I think is a huge thing," he said. "I didn't realize that until playing on last year's team, and it had been, you know, basically 11 years since I played on my first Presidents Cup team till last year's team, and it's just a lot of fun.
"You get to joke around with the guys. You get to understand them a little bit better. You just get to know them a lot better, and you miss that on a week-to-week basis."
Stricker is partly motivated by knowing how it feels to not make the team.
"I've been on the other end of the spectrum from two other captains on a Sunday night saying, 'We're not going to pick you,'" he said. "This time I hope that Sunday night call comes through that I'm going to be on the team."
