JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP
Venue: Gleneagles, Scottish Highlands Dates: Thursday 26 August - Sunday 29 August Coverage: Regular updates on
BBC Radio 5 live;
comprehensive reports on the BBC Sport website & mobiles; all four days
live on Sky Sports 3 & HD3
European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie says selecting his team is a "more or less impossible" task given the quality of players available.
The top nine in the points table after the Johnnie Walker Championship on Sunday will qualify for the October tie against the United States.
Montgomerie will then pick three wildcards to complete the line-up.
"I have a preferred three in my head, but I'm sure something will happen that will change that," said Montgomerie.
The 47-year-old Scotsman, who is considered one of the greatest Ryder Cup players of all time, added: "This has been the hardest team to make of any Ryder Cup team I have been involved with.
"I wish I could take 20, because 20 deserve their spots this year.
"They have played great, the standard on tour has been the best it's ever been.
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606: DEBATE
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"I cannot please everybody on Sunday. I am going to have to leave out players that feel they can help the European Tour cause. It is a bit like [England football manager] Fabio Capello having to leave out Theo Walcott. He could only take 23 [to the World Cup], I can only take 12.
Choosing his wildcards is complicated by the decisions of Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Justin Rose - who have all played key roles in past Ryder Cups - in electing to miss the Johnnie Walker Championship to play the lucrative Fed Ex Cup in the US.
Ireland's triple major winner Harrington, England's world number nine Casey, and his 10th and 22nd-ranked compatriots Donald and Rose are all outside the top nine in Europe's Ryder Cup points table.
From the rankings, which are led by England's Lee Westwood, only Peter Hanson, Miquel Angel Jimenez and sixth-placed Ross Fisher have entered the Johnnie Walker event.
But England duo Ross McGowan and Simon Dyson, and Spain's Alvaro Quiros could also force their way into the top nine at Gleneagles.
Hanson, who moved to eighth in the points table and pushed out Casey after last Sunday's win at the Czech Open, has criticised the Johnnie Walker absentees and questioned how much some players want to be part of the Ryder Cup.
Clarke tight-lipped on Ryder picks
"If you really want to make the team - and, of course, if you are that close - then you should be here and playing," said the Swede.
Italy's Scottish Open champion Edoardo Molinari, who will play at Gleneagles from Thursday to Sunday, is another player hopeful of being given one of Montgomerie's three wildcards.
"If you base the decision on results rather than reputations then I think I deserve a wild card more than the others," he said. "But the Ryder Cup is not only about results."
The United States won the last Ryder Cup in 2008 after Europe had emerged victorious from the previous three.
This year's edition takes place at Celtic Manor in Wales from 1-3 October.
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