“I played nicely all day, hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of opportunities and rolled it pretty good, even though I missed one or two putts that maybe should have gone in but didn’t,” Garcia said after a six-under-par 64 left him equal sixth.

The highlight of his round was an eagle at the par-five 15th, where he hit his second shot to inside three feet.

Officially, he hit only three fairways, but he said that most of his misses merely trickled into the first cut of rough, from where he still had a good chance to shoot at the pin.

“Funny enough, I felt like I drove the ball well,” he continued. “I executed well and hit a lot of tee shots that bounced towards the rough, into the first cut.”

While Garcia improved his position, Open champion Harrington regressed with a 70 on a day when only four players shot higher.

“I played pretty much the same as yesterday,” said Harrington, who opened with a 63. “A couple of putts didn’t drop but all in all I probably played a little better.”

Justin Rose, the only other European in the 30-man field, carded 71 to fall to equal 27th, a distant 13 strokes from the lead.

No European has won the Tour Championship since its inception in 1987 and it will probably stay that way this year, considering who is leading, although Garcia and Harrington at least will go into the weekend with an outside chance.