Paul Casey is desperate for fellow Englishman Ian Poulter to find success at The Barclays in New Jersey this week and help his own bid for a Ryder Cup team place.
Casey is doing all he can to impress Europe captain Nick Faldo and convince him he is worth one of his two picks on the team charged with winning the cup for a fourth time in a row against the United States at Valhalla next month.
He has come into some good form of late, finishing in the top 10 at The Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and in a tie for 15th at the US PGA Championship.
It continued at Ridgewood Country Club when he shot an opening five-under-par 66 to trail Hunter Mahan by four shots in second place heading into Friday's second round of The Barclays.
Yet it has all come too late to secure automatic qualification on Faldo's team and he must instead rely on a captain's pick.
Ranked 37th in the world, Casey needs Poulter, ranked 15 places lower than him, to play his way onto the team automatically by taking one of the five spots on Europe's world points list and thereby reducing the number of rivals he faces for the wild card spots.
"Everybody is talking about the sort of notable players, the guys who have played Ryder Cup before, who are not on the team," Casey said last night.
"Ian is one, Monty (Colin Montgomerie) is another, Darren Clarke, for example, and they have to be my rivals when it comes to a pick.
"So all I can do is play exceptionally good golf here, put myself on the radar in terms of what Nick is thinking, and you know, if he doesn't have to pick Ian, then there's more chance that I might get picked.
"So I hope Ian plays well."
Poulter has work to do if he is to satisfy his own desire to make the team. The Open runner-up needs a sole fourth-place finish at Ridgewood on Sunday with Justin Rose placing outside the top two at the KLM Open in Holland if he is to move into the top five automatic qualifying places on the list.
Unfortunately for both Poulter and Casey, he opened up at Ridgewood with a two-over-par 73.
Casey said he had not spoken to Poulter recently but his friend would know he was backing him to do well.
"I think he knows," Casey added. "You know, for my position, I don't really want to be a pick, if I could have helped it anyway, because I always feel like there's pressure on the guys who are picked. It is what it is.
"I'm staying very relaxed. Having played two of them, I'd love to be there, it's an awesome thing, representing your country, the matches themselves, it's great.
"I was picked once for a Seve Trophy, not quite the same level of intensity, and even that made me nervous. It was sort of, 'Ooh, I've been picked, I've got to deliver'. So, we'll see."
FALDO HAILS HARRINGTON
Bayer pick up “Barca” player
