Ryder Cup race: Paul McGinley does not want to know it, but a top-16 finish in this week's NEC world championship would take him to the verge of winning a second Ryder Cup cap.
Europe's match-winner at The Belfry two years ago leapt from 15th in the points race to 10th with his best-ever finish in a major on Sunday, when he finished sixth at the US PGA championship in Wisconsin.
Now he has moved on to Akron, Ohio, hoping his rich vein of form has come with him. His three previous finishes were second, 20th and fifth.
The €5.7-million event at the Firestone course is where Darren Clarke won the title last year - his second victory in the world championship series - and it is where McGinley has a massive advantage as the battle for cup places enters its penultimate week.
That is because eighth-placed David Howell and ninth-placed Ian Poulter, by failing to climb into the world's top 50, have failed to earn places in the 77-strong field.
McGinley, 68th in the world, can therefore work out exactly what he needs to do to overtake them. Except he does not plan to.
"I don't want that to be my focus," commented the Dubliner yesterday. "I want to try to make as big a cheque as possible and see where the cards fall.
"I think it's unfortunate that we don't have some of the guys in the tournament who have a strong chance of making the team, but I do have an advantage - it's a window of opportunity."
McGinley will go past Poulter if he finishes in the top 30 on Sunday and will overtake Howell if he makes that 16th place.
But the 37-year-old also knows there are players chasing him.
Jean-Francois Remesy (11th), Brian Davis (13th), Raphael Jacquelin (15th) and Graeme McDowell (16th) are absent, but 12th-placed Joakim Haeggman and 14th-placed Fredrik Jacobson are present and Barry Lane, Colin Montgomerie and Scott Drummond are other possible threats.
What McGinley wants to avoid, of course, is having it all come down to next week's BMW International Open in Munich.
That will be the case for Howell and Poulter - and Montgomerie unless he wins this week.
Bernhard Langer meanwhile has been keeping in close touch with prospective team members, including McGinley. This week he invited Montgomerie to play a practice round with him.
Europe's captain had done the same at Whistling Straits last week with Howell, Thomas Levet (sixth in the table), Remesy and Jacquelin.
"I had two conversations with Bernhard last week and one this morning," revealed McGinley. "A lot of what we said is private . . . but he's obviously pleased with my form."
