T.J.'s Take: Garcia learning valuable lessons from Singh

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Sergio Garcia may not be beating Vjiay Singh in the Playoffs, but T.J. Auclair says he is learning from him.

Just like the rest of the 144 players who qualified to participate in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, Sergio Garcia's goal was to hoist a Tiffany trophy and deposit $10 million into his bank account at the end of the four-tournament series.

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However, with two tournaments down and two to go, it looks as though Vijay Singh has one hand on the Tiffany trophy -- and that's only because the other hand contains the ungodly check he's holding as he stands in line at the bank waiting for the next available teller.

Mathematically speaking, Garcia still has a chance to knock off his buddy Vijay, winner of the first two Playoffs events. Mathematically.

At both The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, Garcia had a front-row seat to witness Singh at his absolute best, which wound up being back-to-back wins.

And it had to be inspiring.

Garcia has shown a lot of maturity over these last two weeks. He's the ultimate competitor and because of that, there have been many times in the past where he's allowed his emotions to get in the way of better judgment.

These last two weeks, however, Garcia's attitude couldn't be better.

Singh has famously convinced himself -- and pretty much the rest of the world at this point -- that he's the best putter in the world.

Will some of that positive thinking rub off on Garcia in the weeks, months and years to come?

The thing about Garcia is this; he's always been a confident guy. Heck, you don't play the game the way he's played it for so long without believing in your abilities. However, no club out of the 14 in the bag has hurt Garcia more than the short-stick. That could probably be said for most of the guys on TOUR. And that includes Singh, who for a long time changed putters more often than he changed his clothes.

But, Singh has learned not to buy into the criticism. Instead, he's told anyone that will listen, or perhaps even those who don't care to hear it, that he's the best putter in the world.

And who can argue with the results?

Singh defeated Garcia at The Barclays in a two-hole playoff. Because of the way the Playoffs system works, the top players in the standings are paired together for the first two rounds of each event. So after the playoff-loss, Garcia spent the first two rounds of the Deutsche Bank Championship alongside Singh.

They met again in the final round on Monday, where Garcia witnessed arguably one of the best rounds of the 2008 season -- Singh's 8-under 63 to run away from the field for a statement-making five-shot victory.

"I'm glad I got to watch it," Garcia said after that round. "That was awesome to watch. I mean, obviously Vijay made a lot of putts, but to shoot 8 under today under these conditions, with the wind and as firm as the greens were, it's just impressive, and that's the only thing you can say."

For his part, Garcia shot a disappointing 1-over 72, but it was enough to tie for fifth and hold down the No. 2 spot in the Playoffs, which means -- you guessed it -- Garcia gets more of Singh this week, at least for the first two rounds of the BMW Championship.

This is as friendly a rivalry as you'll find in sports, even if some might say it's not truly a rivalry since it's been rather lopsided the last two weeks. Whatever you want to call it, the truth is that Singh is bringing out the best in Garcia as a player both on and off the course.

"When Vijay is playing like this and rolling the ball like he's rolling it, it's hard to get him because we all know how good a ball striker he is, and when he goes on a roll like this like he's gone on these past couple weeks with his putting and everything, it becomes quite difficult," Garcia praised. "I don't see him finishing outside the top 10 in the next two tournaments."

It will take a Herculean effort by Garcia and, well, some pretty lousy golf from Singh for them to flip spots in the standings once the Playoffs end. Garcia will be up for the challenge, but it's not likely Singh will decide to take a mental vacation for the last two events.

I'm going to go way out on a limb and say there's no way Garcia overtakes Singh in the Playoffs. Wow. What great insight, right? Bold prediction when the Big Fijian is 12,225 points ahead, eh?

However, I'll also say this -- by seeing Singh's approach, unwavering confidence and utter dominance up close and personal, Garcia has seen precisely what it takes to own clutch-time.

While the $10 million bonus that comes along with the FedExCup would be nice, you can be sure that the lessons Garcia is learning from Singh will prove to be worth a lot more in the long run.