No automatic Ryder Cup place for me, concedes Clarke
Darren Clarke conceded his challenge for a place on the European Ryder Cup team was over following a disastrous second round 82 at the 135th Open Championship left him seven shots adrift of missing the cut.
“My game has been good, but my mind has obviously been elsewhere,” Clarke said. “Now the priority is to be with my wife and family.”
Asked if he would accept an invitation from captain Ian Woosnam as one of two wild card picks, Clarke said: “I would have to think about it.”
Paul McGinley’s grip on a place loosened after he also missed the cut, albeit by a single stroke following rounds of 71 and 73 that left him on level par.
The old adage of ‘a miss is as good as a mile’ certainly held true for McGinley, however. The token cheque for playing in a Major made little difference to his status on the Ryder Cup rankings.
With Sergio Garcia’s tie for fifth securing the Spaniard a berth on Ian Woosnam’s team after taking him to fifth in the European points list, McGinley was bumped down a place from sixth to seventh.
The same fate befell Padraig Harrington, from fifth to sixth. He was never in the hunt from the moment he double-bogeyed the very first hole on Thursday and he too packed his bags on Friday afternoon to head home.
Only Graeme McDowell of the four-pronged Irish contingent made any sort of impression on the leaderboard.
The Portrush man actually led after a first-round 66 but followed up with a second-round 73 and then 72 and 79 to finish in a tie for 61st. Only a victory would have improved his chances of making the Ryder Cup team automatically.
McDowell languishes in the rankings, 37th on the world points list and 38th on the European points list.
Five players qualify off world ranking table, next five off European points table. Captain Ian Woosnam then adds two wild cards.
1 DAVID HOWELL 207.27
2 COLIN MONTGOMERIE 205.90
3 JOSÉ MARIA OLAZÁBAL 202.09
4 HENRIK STENSON 199.01
5 LUKE DONALD 187.74
6 Sergio Garcia 180.71
7 Paul Casey 165.33
8 Carl Pettersson 154.12
9 Padraig Harrington 152.22
10 Paul Broadhurst 125.73
1 Colin Montgomerie 2413016.11
2 David Howell 2274635.98
3 Henrik Stenson 1744908.71
4 PAUL CASEY 1721833.85
5 SERGIO GARCIA 1557771.27
6 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 1482527.44
7 PAUL MCGINLEY 1411982.24
8 José Maria Olazábal 1381698.05
9 PAUL BROADHURST 1336905.57
10 Johan Edfors 1247039.24
1 Tiger Woods 3,775.000
2 Phil Mickelson 2,474.375
3 Jim Furyk 1,896.000
4 Chad Campbell 1,129.602
5 David Toms 1,072.250
6 Chris DiMarco 830.000
7 JJ Henry 778.750
8 Zach Johnson 756.477
9 Brett Wetterich 746.000
10 Vaughn Taylor 660.833.
Top 10 at end of PGA Championship on August 20 qualify with captain Tom Lehman adding two picks.
