There are no sure bets for today's picks

It was a down day for Sergio Garcia, who shot a 1-over 72 - his worst round of the tournament - to finish T-5th. (Travis Dove/Globe Staff)

NORTON - Nick Faldo had the Ryder Cup stage Sunday. This morning, it will be Paul Azinger's turn.

The US captain will name his four picks for the Sept. 18-21 competition in Louisville, Ky., and the popular belief is that J.B. Holmes - a Kentucky native who possesses the enormous power that Azinger covets - and Steve Stricker are the leading candidates. After that, guesses are all over the map. If there's one common thread, it's that the US captain hasn't exactly been burning up the lines of communication.

"I don't even know if he has my phone number," said Scott Verplank, a veteran of two Ryder Cups and owner of a 10-3-1 record in international team competition. "He hasn't made any indication to me what he's doing."

Brandt Snedeker doesn't have any Ryder Cup experience but is considered a possibility. The only thing is, "I've never talked to Paul," said Snedeker.

And how about you, Hunter Mahan? "Same here. I don't know what they're thinking. I guess they're keeping it under wraps. I don't think anybody has a clue."

Azinger will make his announcement this morning in New York. Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis, and Boo Weekley have already nailed down automatic berths.

A real horse race

In past years, the Labor Day festivities at TPC Boston have centered around Tiger Woods - his battle with Vijay Singh in 2004, his win in 2006, his duel with Mickelson a year ago. With Woods recuperating from knee surgery this time, Seth Waugh, CEO of the Deutsche Bank of the Americas, put his spin on what took place. "Those were like heavyweight fights," said Waugh. "This is more like the Kentucky Derby." He was referring to the fact that of the top eight names on the leaderboard at the start of Round 4, four were ranked inside the top 15 and four had won major championships . . . Waugh conceded that attendance figures were down slightly, but he didn't seem concerned, because everyone in pro golf is dealing with that reality, given the absence of Woods . . . Waugh's assessment of what the economic climate means for the PGA Tour and the FedEx Cup in particular: "The good news is, the deals for four- to six-years are signed. I'm a little more optimistic that we'll get through this, but if the contracts were not signed and were up, you'd lose a lot of folks. We've got the best product with a world presence, but we can make it better instead of waiting for it to be fixed." The Deutsche Bank Championship has a contract with the PGA Tour through 2010.

Herron a hurdler

Tim Herron hadn't made a top 10 all season. In fact, he hadn't since the summer of '07 - until he came home with a 65 yesterday and hurdled 26 players to finish joint fifth. "I made some putts today, which I haven't done in years, I guess," said Herron. But by pushing to 13-under 271, Herron piled up 3,900 FedEx Cup points and stormed up those standings, too. He went from 99th to 48th and will be in St. Louis for the BMW Championship next week, the third of four playoff tournaments . . . Brett Quigley pitched in from behind the green at the 528-yard, par-5 18th for one of three eagles there, and with a round of 70 -276 he finished tied for 21st. The bad news is, he only pushed to 72d in the FedEx Cup standings and won't go on to St. Louis. The good news is, he wasn't going to go, anyway; he's headed home to Jupiter, Fla., to be with wife Amy as she prepares to deliver the couple's second child, another daughter to join sister Lilly . . . Ten players who started the week inside the top 70 in FedEx points had been knocked out: Paul Casey, Sean O'Hair, Steve Elkington, Paul Goydos, Jeff Quinney, Kevin Na, Rod Pampling, Daniel Chopra, Steve Lowery, and George McNeill. The 10 who played themselves inside the top 70 and thus move on to the BMW: Herron, Johnson Wagner, Heath Slocum, Ben Crane, Eric Axley, Aaron Baddeley, Fredrik Jacobson, Charley Hoffman, Tommy Armour III, and Angel Cabrera.

Special guest

When the volunteer party was held Sunday evening, it was a festive occasion for all. It included music by Michael Cavanaugh of the Broadway musical "Movin' Out," a good old-fashioned New England lobster bake, and fireworks. Oh, and a guest appearance by the 54-hole leader, Mike Weir. The Canadian lefthander went from shooting 67 to doing his media interviews to a lengthy session on the range to stopping in to have a few words with the volunteers. "Mike's a class act," said Waugh, who had high praise for many of the players in the field, particularly the international ones. "They get it. They feel it's their duty for being this good, this fortunate. They give back." . . . For several years, Ernie Els toyed with putting the Deutsche Bank Championship on his schedule, but for one reason or another, he never went through with it. It took only a few practice rounds for Els to seek out Waugh. "What the hell have I been thinking?" said Els, which Waugh took as a compliment of the highest order.

Downers

Round 4 was most costly to Bill Haas and D.J. Trahan. Starting the day 8 under and tied for 21st, Haas shot 79 -284 and finished second-to-last, earning just $14,000. Trahan, meanwhile, had double bogeys at the par-4 first and the par-4 fourth, shot 80 -283, and plummeted from T-13 to T-67 . . . Whereas 28 players went bogey-free over the first two days and three did so in Sunday's third round, no one turned the trick yesterday. That's one way to explain how dramatically tougher the conditions got as the week went on. If you want it in cold numbers, here they are: The field average was 69.157 Friday, 68.473 Saturday, 70.826 Sunday, and 72.083 yesterday. In other words, the course played more than 3.5 shots harder yesterday than it did Saturday . . . For fans of eagles, this was your week. There were 10 more made in the final round, two at the par-5 second (Singh, Martin Laird), five at the par-4 fourth (Herron, Chad Campbell, Tom Pernice, Andres Romero, and John Rollins), and three at the par-5 18th (Quigley, Campbell, Stricker). That brought the grand total to 53, and Campbell led the way with three. He also became the fourth player in the championship to record two eagles in the same round . . . The 298-yard, par-4 fourth again proved a hole on which players could be aggressive. With a 3.582-shot average, it ranked second-easiest; there were 16 eagles, 164 birdies, just 32 bogeys, and only 1 double bogey there.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.