Seven days ago, Sergio Garcia wasn't even sure if he would be eligible to play in The Barclays for the start of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup.

Suddenly, he has a splendid view from the top.

Garcia took another important step toward recovering from a troublesome season yesterday with a 6-under 65 at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J., for a share of the lead with Paul Goydos and Steve Marino.

"We are getting back into it," Garcia said. "Last week was nice. It was good to see ourselves ... getting that feeling of being out there trying to win a tournament and getting the juices flowing a little bit. We're just looking forward to hopefully finishing the year well here, keep this good momentum going."

At a different venue, Garcia stayed on course. He is a two-time winner of this tournament, both times at Westchester. On a track with intimidating views inside the ropes and gorgeous vistas of Manhattan, he wound up in a familiar spot.

In some respects, so did Tiger Woods.

The Barclays is the only tournament Woods has played at least three times without finishing in the top 10. He shot a 70.

Nearly half the field was at par or better, and some two dozen players shot in the 60s.

LITTLE LEAGUE

CALIFORNIA WILL PLAY TEXAS FOR U.S. TITLE

Nick Conlin scampered home from third on a wild pitch to give Chula Vista, Calif., an 11-10 win over Warner Robins, Ga., last night to advance to the U.S. championship game of the Little League World Series at South Williamsport, Pa.

California will face Texas tomorrow with a berth in the World Series title game at stake.

Left-hander Chin Ou struck out eight and didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning, and Tang Fu Cheng homered and scored twice as Taiwan eliminated Curacao, 5-2, earlier yesterday to set up the international final against Mexico tomorrow.

SOCCER

CHING, DONOVAN ON U.S. QUALIFIER ROSTER

U.S. soccer coach Bob Bradley chose a mostly unchanged roster, including forwards Landon Donovan, Hawai'i's Brian Ching and Jozy Altidore, for World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador on Sept. 5 at Sandy, Utah, and at Trinidad and Tobago four days later.

Costa Rica (4-2) leads the final round of qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean with 12 points, followed by Honduras (3-1-2), which has 10 and is ahead of the U.S. (3-1-2) on goal difference. Mexico (3-3) is fourth with nine, followed by El Salvador and Trinidad (both 1-3-2) with five each.

TENNIS

TOP MEN'S, WOMEN'S SEEDS FALL IN PILOT PEN

Amelie Mauresmo rallied to win a 20-point first-set tiebreaker and a 7-6 (9), 2-6, 6-3 quarterfinal over top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament last night in New Haven, Conn.

Kuznetsova became the second top seed to fall, after Sam Querrey used 15 aces to beat Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, in the men's draw earlier in the day.