Max Homa may be leading by two shots heading into the weekend at the BMW Championship but the American said his focus remains firmly on fulfilling his Ryder Cup aspirations.
Homa started the week just inside the top six of the US qualification standings which would earn him an automatic spot in his maiden Ryder Cup. That spot on the team now looks even more likely after a sparkling second round at Olympia Fields.
"That's been kind of my goal since these Playoffs started, to get into that top 6," he revealed after his second round.
"I told Zach [Johnson] last year I was kissing up to him, but then he also said 'I'd like to not have to pick you' and I thought all right, there's my promise, I'll try to get an automatic. That would be really cool."
Homa made his first appearance in a professional US team event at the Presidents Cup last year, going undefeated and winning all four of his matches as the USA charged to a 17.5-12.5 victory over the International team.
He has already won twice on the PGA Tour this year and now goes in search of his seventh PGA Tour title with Friday's superb round setting up a great opportunity at victory over the weekend
The 32-year-old registered ten birdies en route to an eight-under-par 62, setting a new course record at Olympia Fields in the process and catapulting him to the top of the leaderboard.
Having opened with a birdie, the American gound three more on the front nine at 4, 5 and 7. A bogey at 8 was met with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 before a closing stretch of four birdies in his last six holes saw him beat the previous course record shared by Rickie Fowler and Vijay Singh.
"I holed a lot of putts, which you have to do to make 10 birdies, but I was very proud of how I drove it," he added. "I felt like I was able to attack all day.
"Obviously, the greens are still really soft, so being in the fairway as often as I was, it felt like I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to, and if I didn't, I could just play to the middle of the green."
Homa's nearest competitor is Chris Kirk who fired a four-under-par 66 to sit at -8. 2022 US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick and last month's Open champion Brian Harman are a shot further back at -7.
