Wilson back on track for Ryder spot

Oliver Wilson made the greatest comeback of his golfing life today to stay on course for a Ryder Cup debut next month.

Six-over-par with 10 holes to play and heading out of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, the final qualifying event, Wilson grabbed an eagle and two birdies to survive the halfway cut by the skin of his teeth.

Minutes later German Martin Kaymer, his biggest danger in the race for places in Nick Faldo’s team, missed four-foot putts on the final two greens to miss out by one.

“I’m proud of myself,” said Wilson, poised now to become the first player ever to play for Europe against the Americans without winning a tournament in his professional career.

“That was the biggest round of my career. It was not the front nine I wanted, but it was the back nine I needed.”

With Justin Rose and Soren Hansen on the verge of clinching a first cap as well, Wilson now has to hold off the challenge of only Nick Dougherty and Ross Fisher.

But Dougherty has to finish first or second on Sunday and Fisher has to be in the top three – and at halfway they are way down the field on one-under and level-par respectively.

Frenchman Gregory Havret still leads on seven-under-par, overcoming a shank with the second shot of his day to add a two-under 71 to his opening 68.

Kaymer was understandably dejected. As Lee Westwood had feared would be the case, he felt a victim of greens which the former European number one said should be ripped up before the course stages the 2014 Ryder Cup.

“I was playing very well, but the greens were ridiculous,” said the 23-year-old, who despite two wins this year gives himself no chance of a wild card with so many big guns – Darren Clarke, Paul Casey, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Paul McGinley – not qualifying on points either.

“They were really bumpy. All you could do is hit a good stroke and hope. It was really, really disappointing.”

A double bogey on the third and bogeys at the sixth and seventh put Wilson up against it, but he went birdie-eagle-birdie on the next three par fives.

At the 503-yard 12th he struck a three-wood to eight feet and on the 543-yard 16th he hit a driver off the deck over the water and onto the green, from where he two-putted.

There was still some sweating to come because he found sand with his tee shot to the short 17th, but he salvaged his par and finished with another for a one under-72 and two-over aggregate.

“I’m not going to smile because Martin missed the cut, but that’s big news,” he added. “There’s still a long way to go, though.

“I gave myself a talking-to on the ninth and just tried to stay patient. Maybe I was trying too hard.

“I know it’s tight and I knew I had to be here at the weekend. If I didn’t it was pretty much over.”

Actually, with Dougherty and Fisher only scoring 74 and 72 Wilson might well have hung onto the 10th and last spot on the points table even if he had crashed out.

But sitting at home was not where he wanted to celebrate becoming a cup player.

For a while it looked as if Rose and Hansen, eighth and ninth in the standings, would clinch their spots today.

That would have happened if Wilson, Kaymer and Dougherty had all missed the cut.

Dougherty was one over after a bogey six on the ninth, but birdied the 14th and 16th.

“If I can play great I still have a chance,” he said. “But you’re scared almost with putts of 20 feet or over.

“The scoring is not great and you can make a big move in a short time. Unfortunately I’m going to have to rely on some luck on the greens.”

Havret leads by one from England’s Robert Rock, who was a joint leader at halfway in Holland last week and then crashed to a Saturday 80.

Welshman Bradley Dredge and Scot Peter Whiteford shared third spot two back, while Hansen’s second successive 71 put him in a tie for fifth.

Rose is two under, but regardless of what they do in the last 36 he and Hansen will be safe if Dougherty and Fisher are outside the top two.

World number 14 Rose said after his 71: “Right now it looks good. I didn’t feel quite as good today as I did yesterday, but I’m onto something and feeling good about the game in general.”

Hansen has been nursing a sore right arm and grimaced playing out of the rough on the 12th, his third hole of the day. The painkiller he had taken had not kicked in then, but he did not appear to aggravate it any further after that and is confident rest will cure the problem.

As for the separate wild card battle Darren Clarke’s 73 for one-under, following as it does his win in Holland, would appear to keep him in pole position.

McGinley is on the same mark, but Montgomerie’s 70 for two-under lifted him from 37th to 13th and all things remain possible.

Not so for England’s Danny Willett, who turned professional in May hoping to earn enough from seven invites to avoid the Tour qualifying school.

This was his seventh and he missed the cut by two. He would have needed to finish third in any case. The first stage of the school starts for him in Germany in two weeks.