Owen signs off from European Tour

England’s Greg Owen has resigned his European Tour membership, ruling him out of the Ryder Cup qualifying race.

Owen has earned more than €1m in his debut year on the USPGA Tour and has now opted to play full-time in America.

The 33-year-old – who controversially missed the Open championship at St Andrews after pulling out of the qualifying competition - will therefore not play the 11 events necessary to maintain his membership, a prerequisite for cup selection.

Owen’s agent Eddie Hearn said: “It was a tough decision for Greg to make as he is a wholehearted supporter of the European Tour.

“He gave himself every chance to try to complete the required 11 events, but with his success this year on the PGA Tour he is now looking at the bigger stage, which means greater prize money and increased world ranking points.”

Owen is not the only potential member of Ian Woosnam’s European team for the K Club in such a position.

Justin Rose and 2002 team members Phillip Price and Jesper Parnevik will not be included on the world ranking or European money list points tables when they start in September because they are also not going to play the necessary 11 events.

Germany’s Alex Cejka is in the same position and while these players could re-enter the race next season and try to make up lost ground, Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson is ready to turn his back on the match altogether.

Jacobson was unlucky to miss out on a debut last year, narrowly failing to qualify automatically and then losing out to Luke Donald for a wild card.

“I’ve another child on the way in January and I need to focus on this place (America) and be with my family,” said the 30-year-old after the USPGA championship.

“It’s disappointing because I’d love to play the Ryder Cup, but I can’t see myself changing everything for one week. Hopefully for the tour’s sake the 11 will come down. Surely it would be better for the tour to keep some of the players over here in the States as members.

“I don’t see why we should be put out of the Ryder Cup because we want to spend time with our family rather than travelling back and forth across the Atlantic.

“And isn’t the match Europe against America? It’s not the European Tour against America.”

Woosnam admitted earlier this year he was concerned about the situation.

“There must be a dozen key players playing the US Tour at the moment and I’m worried about how the team may work out if the guys keep playing in America,” he said.

“It’s a bit of a predicament but hopefully a lot of them will change their schedules and play a bit more over here. With the amount of players over there, there could be too many playing for points via the world table.”