Ian Poulter's Sunday run at Kiawah Island earned him enough world ranking points to crack the top 10 automatic qualifiers for the European Ryder Cup team with just one tournament left to go.
European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will pull 10 automatic qualifiers from two separate points lists. The top five players on the European Points List after the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles will make the team.
The top five after the PGA Championship (points in parentheses):
1. Rory McIlroy (4,050,288.10)
2. Justin Rose (2,602,910.21)
3. Graeme McDowell (2,375,790.52)
4. Paul Lawrie (2,088,718.02)
5. Francesco Molinari (2,062,525.67)
The next five players will be the highest five on the World Points List not already on the team. Currently, that handful of players would consist of the following in order of their position on the list (points in parentheses):
2. Luke Donald (363.46)
4. Lee Westwood (280.27)
6. Peter Hanson (189.32)
9. Martin Kaymer (172.26)
10. Ian Poulter (171.64)
Olazabal has two captain's picks to make up his dozen. Count on him to pick:
Sergio Garcia - Though the Spaniard missed the cut at Kiawah, Garcia is a Ryder Cup gamer. Olazabal also doesn't want the ironic distinction of being the first captain of a full-Europe squad to not have a playing Spaniard.
Nicolas Colsaerts - The long-hitting Belgian has struggled at times in the majors this year, but has a win at the Volvo World Match Play.
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