Sergio Garcia To Skip Deutsche Bank Championship

Confident of a spot at the season-ending Tour Championship, Sergio Garcia said he would skip next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship to rest up for the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake as well as the Ryder Cup in late September.

"With the schedules that are coming, I have to think that I have a chance at getting to the Tour Championship, so having to play six weeks in a row and then one week off and then the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup is just too much," Garcia said in a statement from The Barclays event Friday night. "Everybody knows how important the Ryder Cup is for me, and I want to be fully fit there. I want to be feeling strong so I can help my team."

Garcia conceded that he may lose out on the $10 million jackpot awaiting the winner of the FedEx Cup, but said he needed a hiatus from the break-neck pace of the end of the playoff season.

“I know that I will lose some ground in the FedExCup,” he said. “If I would have played better at the PGA [Championship], maybe, then I would have been able to take some other week off. ... It’s very disappointing, but unfortunately, I have to take a rest somewhere.”

Garcia, who won last week’s Wyndham Championship -- his first tour victory since the 2008 Players Championship -- was not the first contender for the cup to take a breather from one of the FedEx Cup matches. Jason Dufner, who closed out the PGA Tour season at No. 2 in FedEx Cup points, also cited too much golf as his reason for sitting out this week’s tilt.

Garcia will start the weekend tied for the lead with Nick Watney at Bethpage Black. A top-30 finish at The Barclays would ensure a tee time at the Tour Champioinship for the 23-time worldwide winner.