European attention turns to Ryder Cup

Despite achieving the 10th hole-in-one of his career this week, the most experienced player in Ryder Cup history has resigned himself to missing out on The Belfry next month after his failure to stay in contention at the PGA Championship.

Mark James, captain of the 1999 team, threw a good luck note from Faldo into a rubbish bin in Boston following a falling-out between the two.

Sam Torrance, James's assistant then, is now the man in charge. And when asked if he would be sending the same message, Faldo said: "I don't want to stir things up again. But they know I want them to do it."

Faldo, who had to finish second in the PGA Championship to qualify for next week's NEC International in Akron, is not going to play in the BMW International Open, the final points-counting event, in Munich next week.

Two years ago, he flew there to try to press his claims for a wild card, only to be told after the second round by James that he was unlikely to be selected even if he won the tournament.

"I'm not going through that again," added the six-time major champion, whose omission from the last match ended a run of appearances going back to his debut in 1977.

Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal were also sounding gloomy about their Ryder Cup prospects on Sunday. Olazabal believes that Torrance has already decided to hand his wild cards to Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik.

Woosnam, who would have been heading for a ninth appearance but for the extra club fiasco at the British Open that cost him nearly £220,000, said after finishing at two over par 290 in the PGA: "It's not lookinggood now."

Missing out on the NEC did leave the option of playing in the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles to try to force his way closer to the top 10. But after filing an entry, Woosnam has now decided to spend the week with his family in Barbados.

"A nice rum and coke has the edge," he said.

Olazabal might have to win in Munich to make it into an automatic top 10 spot, but says: "I don't think I will make the team and it's not going to be the end of the world if I don't -- I didn't play in 1995, either."

That, though, was when he was injured. This time it is because of a system that counts against those playing on the U.S. Tour.

The top players agree almost to a man that two wild cards is not enough and Olazabal commented: "We started saying it was wrong a long time ago, but nobody listens. We are way down the bottom -- nobody listens."

Disappointed by his putting again this week, the double Masters champion added: "All I want to do is play good golf. That will satisfy me enough."

Olazabal had to finish seventh in the PGA to have a chance of qualifying for the NEC and the $5 million on offer there, but fell short despite a solid final round.

This April, Faldo celebrated 25 years as a professional and he says: "It's starting to feel like it.

"My body is telling me it's done a lot of work and I'm lucky I have a very good physio," he added. "I've tried to step up my gym work, but I've got to find a an easier route."

Faldo stood three under after the first round on Thursday and with one hole of his second round to go was two under. But then came a triple bogey seven on the final hole and, having survived the cut with nothing to spare, he scored a third-round 71 to go into the final day on two over.

The ace came on the 204-yard fourth and was Faldo's first in a major championship. His most famous hole-in-one came in the 1993 Ryder Cup at The Belfry's 14th hole against Paul Azinger in the last day singles.

Meanwhile, Phillip Price of Wales was deaing with the pressure of trying to secure a Ryder Cup debut.

By finishing the PGA Championship at 3-over-par 283 after a closing 70, Price looked certain to hang on to the 10th and last automatic place in the Ryder Cup table.

Only two weeks remain in the year-long race for the Belfry, and the 34-year-old, who became a father for the first time last December, said: "I will be relieved when it's all resolved.

"I've giving everything I've got and I'm not doing things with my wife and little boy I'd like to," he added. "The last few weeks have become a bit of a grind. I would like to have got this over with ages ago but I've not been playing as well as I would have liked."

At least Price will head into next week's NEC Invitational in Akron in a better frame of mind than he had been following a third-round 76 in Atlanta.

"It was nice to settle the ship. I played so poorly for that 76 -- I was in the rough everywhere and made no putts," he said. "Maybe I've been pushing too hard. From May onwards it's a long slog without having too many weeks off."

The Firestone course in Akron is where he gave the best performance of his career last year, finishing runner-up to Tiger Woods.

"I suppose it's a benefit to be going back there, although I didn't think the course was overly suited to me," he said. "Things just came together."

With 11th-placed Miguel Angel Jimenez and 12th-placed Ian Poulter having missed the cut in Atlanta, 13th-placed Andrew Coltart poses the biggest threat to Price's position.

Coltart's initial target, though, was to overtake Poulter and qualify for the NEC, where only the top 12 on the European Ryder Cup points list at the conclusion of the PGA Championship are eligible.

For that, Coltart had to climb from 43rd overnight to 28th and he was making a brilliant stab at it after a bad start.

Coltart bogeyed the third and fourth but birdied the long fifth, then had three more in a row to turn in 33 and when he added another on the long 12th he was up to joint 2th.

Andrew Oldcorn, 15th in the table, kept his hopes afloat and did his confidence a power of good by finishing with a 67 for one over. It was not good enough for him to qualify for Akron, but he will be playing in the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles starting on Thursday.

Out-scoring playing partner Colin Montgomerie by four after they both resumed on four over, Oldcorn said: "After my third-round 74 I felt my chance was gone, but with the top 12 not at Gleneagles the field will be weaker there.

"I've got to try to win there," he said. "I am a wee bit burnt out and if it wasn't for the Ryder Cup I probably wouldn't play, even though I can stay at home.

"Winning the Scottish PGA is worth the same number of points as finishing fourth in the NEC, so there's a lot to play for still."

Oldcorn was critical of some of the last-day pin placings, but managed birdies at the first and sixth in turning in 33. Then, after a bogey on the 11th, the Volvo PGA champion played the last seven holes of his first major in America in two under. He birdied the 12th and 16th.

Nick Faldo closed with a 70 for two over, while Ian Woosnam, still in with an outside chance of making Sam Torrance's team, was on the same mark following a 68.

Woosnam, 16th in the points standings, had six birdies, but in pushing for another at the 490-yard last -- the longest closing par 4 in major history -- he went in the lake and bogeyed.

Montgomerie's 71 left him five over and completed an unhappy time in the American majors this season. To further ruin his day, he was later disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. He missed the halfway cut in the Masters, finished a worst-ever 52nd in the U.S. Open and was certain to be outside the top 50 again.

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