Montgomerie, Clarke making last-minute Ryder push

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Colin Montgomerie has never been beaten in Ryder Cup singles.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) -- Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke are among Europe's stars who have a last chance this week to capture places on the Ryder Cup team.

Along with Paul McGinley, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, they are hoping to do enough at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles or the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston to impress captain Nick Faldo and secure one of his two wild card spots.

Clarke

Montgomerie, Clarke and McGinley are playing at Gleneagles, and Poulter and Casey are in Boston, the second of the four FedEx Series playoffs.

The team to defend the trophy at Valhalla, Kentucky, from September 19-21 includes five off a world points list -- British Open and PGA Championship winner Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson. The next five, who come off the European points list, are Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson.

The last three on the European points list, however, are vulnerable to attack at Gleneagles from players right behind them -- Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.

The Boston tournament does not count for either list -- only to impress Faldo.

After the 10 are known on Sunday, Faldo will announce his two wild cards at a news conference at Gleneagles after the Johnnie Walker Championship is over.

Montgomerie and Clarke are both outside chances for wild card selection. Montgomerie, unbeaten in singles in his eight previous Ryder Cup appearances, has had a poor summer and did not play the last two weeks.

He finished 77th in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and missed the cut in this month's PGA Championship.

The Scot practiced hard at Gleneagles last week, knowing that nothing less than a victory would impress Faldo enough.

"It rained every day but I got the job done. Now I feel very confident in trying to win this event," said Montgomerie, who added he has been trying to add 20 yards off the tee for a wet par-73 course measuring 7,320 yards.

"My goal is to win and try to forget about everything else and what it all means," Montgomerie said.

Clarke, who won all three points at The K Club in 2006 six weeks after losing his wife Heather to cancer, was effectively out of the running for a pick until he won the Dutch Open last Sunday.

Montgomerie and Clarke were both critical of Poulter's decision, announced on Monday, to play Boston instead of Gleneagles where a fifth place finish could have got him on the team.

Poulter changed his plan because he needs to play a 15th event on the PGA TOUR for the year and this would be his last chance.

"You might have thought he would have known that before he either entered here or pulled out of here," said Montgomerie, while Clarke commented: "Most of us would have liked to see him trying to qualify."

McGinley, a member of the last three winning teams, was second to Clarke in the Netherlands and needs to do at least as well this week.

Casey, who holed-in-one at The K Club at the 2006 Ryder Cup, has been through a poor year by his standards. But he has shown recent improvement over the last month with three top-10s including a tie for seventh Sunday at The Barclays.