BMW Championship 2018: Xander Schauffele upstages Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to seize halfway lead

The 24-year-old Californian put himself in prime position for not only a win here but also a spot in Jim Furyk's Ryder Cup plans with a second round 64

Schauffele leads heading into the weekend at Aronimink (Getty Images)

$10million would sharpen anyone’s mind but if the FedEx Cup top prize wasn’t motivation enough for the best 70 players in the world game here at the BMW Championship then the prospect of a Ryder Cup on the horizon surely is.

Xander Schauffele feels that more than most. The 24-year-old Californian will be waiting for that fateful phone call when Jim Furyk makes his final wildcard selection on Monday morning. A win here at Aronimink figures to give Team USA’s captain plenty of food for thought and if Friday is anything to go by he projects to have a big decision to make in 72 hours time.

With conditions switching from sweltering to sticky, Schauffele made hay backing up his opening 63 with a second round 64 here in Newtown Square to throw himself right into contention for a place in Paris. The American was near faultless from tee-to-green here, hitting 17 of 18 in regulation, while his new putter was dialled in from the get-go. It all added up to a 36-hole score of 127 (-13), just one shy of the best on tour all season.

That kind of all-round excellence is enough to give anyone a chance and the PGA Tour’s reigning Rookie of the Year knows it’ll have to continue through the weekend if he is to dislodge prohibitive favourite Tony Finau for that 12^thand final spot on the plane.

“Obviously I thought a lot more about it the past couple of weeks,” he said. “I'm in a position where I feel like a win is the only way I'd even be in consideration.

“Tony obviously is the guy right now. He just shot 64 as well - he's not making it easy on anyone else trying to get on that team. So, you know, hats off to him for playing really well.”

All eyes were on overnight leaders Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as they looked to back up a pair of opening 62s. But as they both failed to recapture the highs of Thursday the star-studded chasing pack made their charge.

Woods couldn't back up his opening 62 (Getty Images)

Chief among was them was Schauffele, teeing off in the very first group, opening up with birdies in four of his first seven including three on the spin from five. A 40-footer on 11 extended his growing advantage over the field before his only real error of the day, a shanked tee shot into the fairway trap, saw him hand one back a hole later.

But further birdies at the par five 16^th and the long par three 17^th restored his cushion and saw him lead by two heading into the weekend. With Justin Rose (-11), Rickie Fowler (-10), Justin Thomas (-9), McIlroy (-9) and Woods (-8) all within five at halfway a lesser player may fear the coming challenge. For Schauffele though it’s just another day at the office.

“It is nice to see Tiger playing well. It's not a name I saw last year much, besides the cool factor of it, me growing up watching him golf,” he added.

“It's kind of, you know, we're all in our office environment just trying to handle our own business.”

Schauffele is in pole position heading into the weekend (Getty Images)

On the outside of the top 30 looking in heading into the week Schauffele knows he needs a big few days as he looks to grab the chance to defend his title at East Lake in a fortnight’s time.

Schauffele hasn’t won since that breakthrough afternoon at the Tour Championship 12 months ago and after failing to get the job done after several strong starts this year, most notably at The Open back in July, he’s conscious of the need to finish, to right that wrong.

“My Sunday scoring average is pretty bad to be completely honest here, it's very poor and my Saturday isn't very good either,” he candidly admits. “I’ve a lot to prove not just to everyone else but to myself this weekend. I've been failing a lot so it would be nice to turn the switch and kind of clutch up.

“I’ve managed to put myself in position to win a few times and wasn't really clutch on Sunday and, you know, I'm back here trying again.”