SHORT of confidence, and needing time to re-group, it's no surprise Colin Montgomerie decided not to tee up at the SAS Masters in Stockholm today after a run of indifferent form on demanding courses sapped the golfer's morale.
Not currently entered, either, for the KLM Open in Holland next week, the Scot's only remaining opportunity to persuade Nick Faldo that he could still be an asset to Europe's Ryder Cup side at Valhalla in September will come on home turf at the end
of the month in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Since there's never much point in flogging a dead horse, Monty, 45, must hope, after taking a breather from competition at home in Perthshire, that the opportunity to make an 11th-hour case for inclusion on the PGA Centenary course may yet persuade Faldo to offer him one of the two wild cards at his disposal.
As things stand, there's been little in the Scot's performances over the past month or so to force Faldo's hand. The bright spell of early summer promise which included a top-20 finish at the BMW, the runner-up spot at the French Open and a share of 24th at the European Open has been replaced by darkening clouds ever since Monty missed the cut in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.
He has not broken 70 in his last 11 rounds and lowly finishes in America of 77th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and 149th at the US PGA confirmed a damaging lack of belief.
While Sam Torrance once made the point about an out-of-sorts Lee Westwood before the Ryder Cup match at the Belfry in 2002 that form was temporary and class permanent, Nick Dougherty found it difficult to imagine yesterday how even a track record as notable as Montgomerie's against the USA since 1991 would camouflage recent shortcomings.
"I'd be surprised if Nick went for Monty," said the young Englishman.
"From what I've heard wild cards go to players in form – and Paul McGinley told me that the last thing you want is to go to a Ryder Cup playing badly."
McGinley resigned as a vice-captain to Faldo last September to concentrate on trying to make the team again, but is only 28th on the table.
There are still three events to go, however, and time for things to change yet.
The expectation is Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, both currently outwith the ten automatic qualifying places, will get the nod from Faldo if events over the next three weeks don't change the qualification picture.
Justin Rose, Oliver Wilson and Soren Hansen, the players currently occupying eighth, ninth and tenth spots, chose not to tee up in Stockholm – a decision which also puzzled Dougherty.
"I'm surprised," he said. "If I was in their position I would be playing. It's hard to criticise them at this point, though, because if they come out the next two weeks and make the side then it was a great decision not to play here. But if they don't make the side they will be kicking themselves."
Apart from Ryder Cup points, a host of Scots in Sweden including Paul Lawrie, Marc Warren, Stephen Gallacher, Gary Orr, David Drysdale, Peter Whiteford, Craig Lee and Lloyd Saltman will be chasing a share of the 1.6million prize fund.
The player who stands to benefit most from the stay-aways, however, is Germany's Martin Kaymer. The 23-year-old was knocked out of an automatic top-10 spot by Sergio Garcia's runner-up finish in the US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, but will move to ninth in the standings by coming 12th in Sweden and will also go ahead of Rose if he is in the top three.
Kaymer has had a bit of a slump lately as well, not surprisingly given that his mother died of cancer at the start of July, but he tied Dougherty for second place last year and, although he double-bogeyed the last hole, that has to bring back some good memories.
Another intriguing aspect of the final Ryder Cup countdown is Casey's decision to stay in America rather than return to Europe, as Rose and Poulter may yet do in a bid to secure their places in the team.
Casey spoke on Sunday of having three more chances in the States to qualify automatically, but the third of them does not count in the points race.
"Maybe Paul does not know that," commented Dougherty, who believes his only way of being part of the team next month is to force his way in.
"I think Nick's going to pick Ian if he has to because of his second place at the Open and if Paul is playing decently you would definitely pick him."
This week's field also includes American DJ Trahan, who has accepted an invitation to play and who hopes to improve his chances of a wild card from US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger, and Bristol's Chris Wood, making his professional debut four weeks after his brilliant fifth-place finish at the Open.
Instead of staying amateur, Wood will try to earn enough from seven invites to avoid the qualifying school.
