Garcia atop leaderboard at BMW Championship

Cherry Hills Village, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Looking for his first victory on the PGA Tour since 2012, Sergio Garcia shot a second-round, 6-under 64 on Friday to take the outright lead heading into the weekend at the BMW Championship.

Garcia, who has not won on tour since hoisting the trophy at the 2012 Wyndham Open, finished 36 holes at 8-under 132 and he holds a 1-shot lead over Ryan Palmer. Garcia won the Qatar Masters on the European Tour earlier this season.

"The course is in great shape," Garcia said. "It's a shame that it rained yesterday. It would have played really, really tough throughout the week, but it's still playing great."

Despite being right in the thick of things in many tournaments down the stretch of this season, Garcia has not been able to break through. He finished tied for second at both the Open and the Travelers Championship. Garcia was also alone as the runner-up at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Palmer also shot a 64 on Friday to jump into sole possession of second place at 7-under 133 at Cherry Hills Country Club. He is looking for his fourth win on tour.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who held a share of the first-round lead with Jordan Spieth and Gary Woodland, carded his second consecutive 67 and he is tied with one of the Deutsche Bank Championship runner-ups Billy Horschel (66) at 6- under 134.

McIlroy, currently No. 2 in the FedExCup playoffs, beat out Garcia for the Open and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational titles this season.

Chris Kirk (70), the Deutsche Bank Championship winner who is currently No. 1 in the FedExCup playoffs, is nine shots back at 1-over 141. The Barclays winner Hunter Mahan (70) is well off the pace at 5-over 145.

Garcia did quite a bit of scrambling in his second round, but it worked out for him at the most opportune times.

Early on at the second hole, Garcia's second shot from 93 yards out found a bunker to the right of the green. Garcia plucked the ball from the sand and drained the shot from about 46 feet away to pick up an early birdie.

Another incredible shot came at the par-4 seventh. After his drive found the intermediate rough, Garcia's approach shot from 126 yards out dropped in the hole for an eagle, putting him at 3-under on the day.

Garcia gave one of those shots back with a bogey on eight, but it was the only blemish on Garcia's scorecard during the second round.

After making the turn, Garcia drained two putts inside of 10 feet at 11 and 13. He later poured in a 22-foot putt for birdie on the 16.

On the par-5 17th, Garcia put his second shot in the water and was forced to take a drop. Needing a good approach shot, Garcia stuck his ball within a foot of the hole. He kicked that in to save an important par.

"This was nice after hitting a terrible shot for my second with a four-iron," Garcia said about his approach on 17. "This was nice to be able to close and kick in par and feel like you weren't losing any ground."

Garcia followed that up with a hard-breaking 13-foot birdie putt on the 18th to put him alone in the lead.

As for playing in the high altitude in Colorado, Garcia thinks he has handled the challenge quite well.

"It's different. Obviously you have to get used to it and sometimes you have to realize that the ball is going to go really, really far," Garcia said. "Today was a little bit different because it was much cooler. A lot of shots were played quite long, but downwind the ball was still going far."

Palmer surrounded two bogeys at five and 10 with birdies at one, three, 13, 14, 17 and 18. Like Garcia, Palmer also drained his approach on the par-4 seventh for an eagle. That all added up to a 6-under on the day, putting him one shot back.

McIlroy had a quiet front nine with a birdie on two and a bogey on five, and after nine straight pars from six he made his charge up the leaderboard, closing with three straight birdies from 15 to go along with a par at 18.

NOTES: World No. 6 Jason Day withdrew from the tournament after nine holes on Friday ... Defending champion Zach Johnson sits 10 shots back at 2-over 142 following back-to-back 71s to start the event ... Reigning FedExCup champion Henrik Stenson (69) is five shots back at minus-3 ... Spieth (70) is also at 3-under, while Woodland fell to even par with a 73 on Friday.