“I really feel like I should win five or six times a year – I don’t see myself any different from a guy like Ernie (Els), Vijay (Singh), Tiger (Woods) or Retief (Goosen),” said Garcia, omitting to mention only Phil Mickelson from the players ahead of him in the world rankings.

“I feel like my game is good enough to do that. It’s a case of getting everything going the right way.”

Unlike the others, the 25-year-old is still waiting for his first major title, but even outside the big four weeks of the season he has lifted only one trophy so far in 2005 – the rather less celebrated Booz Allen Classic in America.

Finishes of third in the US Open and fifth in the Open have helped to keep him as Europe’s only player in the world top 10 and a man Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam surely cannot do without at the K Club near Dublin next September.

Not that Garcia sees it quite as cut and dried as that himself.

“If I don’t qualify and don’t feel I am playing well I will tell Woosie if he is thinking about picking me that I think he could get somebody else better than me,” said Garcia yesterday after adding a 65 to his opening 66 – with Woosnam as one of his playing partners.

“I don’t see it going that way and with the changes I’ve made I feel my swing is just getting better and better, but it’s an option.

“I am really confident I will make the team and I’ve just got to believe in myself. If I do that Woosie is not even going to have to pick me.”

The one worrying part of Garcia’s game at the moment is his putting. He is ranked next to last – 205th out of 206 – in the States, but Woosnam was less concerned after seeing it in the flesh.

“He’s just a great player,” he commented. “He gives himself so many opportunities and that’s fantastic for match play.

“He’s long, he hits his irons well and he chips well. I’ve been watching his putting on television and he looked to be struggling a bit, but his stroke looked a lot better here.”

Garcia plays more in America than Europe these days, but claimed he would change his plans if necessary when the qualifying race comes down to the crunch.

“I sure would. No matter who you are and what you have done you might not get picked and, secondly, I would rather he (Woosnam) uses one of the spots for someone else rather than me,” said the Spaniard. “It would make me happier and probably him too.”

The two players closest to Garcia overnight in the race for a first prize of nearly £200,000 are ranked 433rd and 325th in the world.

Welshman Garry Houston lies second and has never finished higher than fourth in a tournament. Nor has he been in the final group on the third day before.

The 34-year-old, who has been to the tour qualifying school 10 times, said of being paired with Garcia: “That should be fun – he can play a bit.

“I’m quite excited about it. It’s a big day playing with Sergio. I don’t know him to speak to, but it’s the old cliché of taking one hole at a time and not worrying about anything else.

“I’ve not had many people or cameras the first couple of days, but this is the kind of day you practise for and whatever happens it will be fantastic.”

The most important outcome for Houston is to keep his tour card for next season. He lies 126th on the Order of Merit and needs to be in the top 115 at the end of next month.

In third place is a much more familiar face.

Jean Van de Velde, like Garcia, made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999, two months after losing the Open following that closing triple bogey seven at Carnoustie.

Three months ago he lost the French Open after going in the water both on the 72nd hole and the play-off, but distraught though he was at the time, that performance revived his career and he will return to the tour full-time next year.

This season he has had to rely mostly on invitations – this week’s came only on Monday afternoon.

Van de Velde is still counting his blessings that he can play at all after undergoing two knee operations.