Irish Ryder hopefuls fail to make a mark

Irish players failed to make significant progress in their quest for places on Europe's Ryder Cup team to take on USA in the K Club in September.

Paul McGinley remains the best placed as he remains within the 10 automatic places. Darren Clarke, 9th in the World Points List, is also in with a good shout.

Padraig Harrington's rollercoaster performance at the British Masters at the weekend did little to improve his prospects. A final round 68 will give him a lot of encouragement, but he remains 13th in the European points list.

He heads to Carton House for the Nissan Irish Open this week looking to kick-start his push for an automatic place.

“I need the points,” he said.

Graeme McDowell, 41st on the Ryder Cup World Points list, also showed signs of a return to form at the weekend, but it will take a remarkable turnaround if he is to play at the K Club in September.

It was Sweden's Johan Edfors who really stole the show this weekend. The 30-year-old is up to 13th place after his shock victory in the British Masters at The Belfry yesterday – his second win in six starts.

Entering this year Edfors was 410th in the world rankings and had just made his seventh visit to the European Tour qualifying school, so it shows there is still hope for the likes of McDowell.

Latest leading places in the European Ryder Cup tables after the Quinn Direct British Masters and Byron Nelson Championship (capitals indicate players currently in qualifying positions)

(Five players qualify off world ranking table, next five off European points table. Captain Ian Woosnam then adds two wild cards)

World Points:

1 HENRIK STENSON 182.82

2 JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL 173.26

3 SERGIO GARCIA 147.49

4 COLIN MONTGOMERIE 135.34

5 LUKE DONALD 131.53

6 David Howell 124.40

7 Paul Broadhurst 97.09

8 Paul Casey 92.85

9 Darren Clarke 90.31

10 Paul McGinley 88.54

European Points (1pt for every Euro):

1 Colin Montgomerie 1,672,810

2 Henrik Stenson 1,562,396

3 DAVID HOWELL 1,459,772

4 Sergio Garcia 1,254,249

5 PAUL McGINLEY 1,228,273

6 Jose Maria Olazabal 1,155,653

7 PAUL BROADHURST 954,675

8 PAUL CASEY 918,102

9 NICK DOUGHERTY 846,099

10 Kenneth Ferrie 765,595

US points list

1 WOODS, Tiger 2,930.000

2 MICKELSON, Phil 2,034.375

3 FURYK, Jim 1,206.000 831.000

4 CAMPBELL, Chad 1,129.602

5 TOMS, David 1,068.917

6 GLOVER, Lucas 641.376

7 LOVE III, Davis 631.875

8 COUPLES, Fred 627.727

9 TAYLOR, Vaughn 600.833

10 WETTERICH, Brett 576.000