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Sergio Garcia tied for the lead at The Barclays, may never hire a full-time caddie

Legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins once said, "If a caddie can help you, you don't know how to play golf." He likely wasn't calling out anyone in particular when he made the statement; however, after watching Sergio Garcia over the last week-plus, maybe Jenkins was talking about the Spaniard.

Four years after he won his last PGA Tour event, Garcia put local caddie David Faircloth on the bag just an hour before last week's Wyndham Championship -- he parted ways with caddie Gary Matthews after the PGA Championship -- and ended up winning the tournament. It felt like one of those once-in-a-lifetime stories ... except Garcia's at it again this week at The Barclays with CBS Sports spotter Wayne Richardson looping for him.

This is usually the point in the story where most would say, "Well if Sergio's having so much success without a regular caddie, he should probably stick to rent-a-caddies."

The idea of Garcia going through the FedExCup playoffs and, hard as it is to believe, the Ryder Cup with someone new on the bag sounds ludicrous. But honestly, what does the guy have to lose?

He's playing so well at the moment that it almost makes sense for him to roll with a different caddie each week until the wheels fall off. Aside from the win last week, he's tied for the lead after 36 holes at Bethpage Black; the thought of him going back-to-back on the PGA Tour, without a regular caddie, doesn't sound all that crazy.

Asked why he's playing so well without a permanent caddie, Garcia chalked it up to one thing: having to make decisions for himself instead of relying on someone else's opinions.

"The only good thing that I have about this is that I'm making my decisions, good and bad," Garcia said. "So am I more aware, no. When I have a professional caddie, obviously he tells me everything that I should know. Am I more committed to pretty much all my shots? Yes."

Interesting take from a guy who's normally one of the most negative players on tour. Garcia's taking ownership of his game, and his shots, and it's paying off in a big way with some of the most consistent golf we've seen from in awhile.