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Nobody ever said that being a Ryder Cup Captain was going to be a walk in the park!
Peter Hanson's victory in the Czech Open has left Europe's captain Colin Montgomerie with the selection headache he was dreading ahead of the Ryder Cup.
Going into the tournament knowing what he needed to do to make his Celtic Manor dream become reality, Hanson took a commanding four shot lead into the final round. That lead disappeared by the turn as nerves seemed to get the better of him, however, a late rally secured an unlikely place in a three-man play-off.
The Swede holed a birdie on the second extra hole to beat Gary Boyd and Peter Lawrie to the first prize and at the same time surged him up to the automatic eighth spot on the team. Unless something amazing happens at Gleneagles next week Hanson will be lining up with his 11 team-mates for the show-piece matches.
Hanson's triumph predictably meant Paul Casey's tenuous hold on the final place was broken, with other results confirming Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher on the coach to Wales.
Miguel Angel Jimenez is now in possession of the final place on the team, but he too will not be present at Gleneagles due to a family wedding, leaving the door open for Ross McGowan, Simon Dyson or Alvaro Quiros to play themselves in.
With next week's Johnnie Walker Championship being the last event counting towards the points table, Montgomerie is faced with the dilemma of leaving out one of Europe's potential stars.
Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose and now Paul Casey all require wildcard picks because they are not playing at Gleneagles - but Monty can pick only three of them.
Who would you leave out? They all have very strong cases to be included. Rose and Donald are both winners this season, Casey holds the highest-ranking of the group and although not enjoying his best ever season, Padraig Harrington is a multiple Major Champion returning to form. Of course, the decision rests with the captain, but their decisions not to compete for Ryder Cup points in Perthshire and instead take part in the lucrative FedEx Cup play-offs in the United States means Montgomerie must leave at least one of this experienced quartet out of his team for October's Celtic Manor contest.
It's hard to imagine a European Team without any of them, but it shows the current strength in depth of European golf; in years gone by they would struggle to field a team to compete and give the Americans a game; now Colin Montgomerie could probably field two teams of equal strength, both capable of claiming the trophy.
The picture will become clearer at the conclusion of proceedings in Scotland, but the dilemma of who to leave out will still remain with the captain - in fact, if Jimenez, a two-time winner this season on the European Tour, is dislodged from ninth place the dilemma will become even greater!
One thing is for sure, it is going to be a titanic battle for the Ryder Cup with many subplots to add to the spice mix. We are still over a month away from the event and already the anticipation is building up more than I remember previously.
Every two years the event grows and grows; the Ryder Cup is now the world's third largest sporting event in terms of TV viewing figures and with the excitement and passion it conjures up it is little surprise.
Roll on October!
