McGowan pulls out at Gleneagles
Injured Ross McGowan pulled out of the Johnnie Walker Championship after an opening 77 at Gleneagles on Thursday - and cannot now qualify for Europe's Ryder Cup team.
McGowan has been battling a pinched nerve in his left shoulder for the past month, but hit only four pitch shots in practice on Wednesday and has now been advised to rest it. The 28-year-old English player, clearly in agony at times during his round, needed a top-two finish to have any chance of gaining an automatic place on Colin Montgomerie's side.
His withdrawal guarantees Italian Francesco Molinari a debut at Celtic Manor in October.
McGowan would have had to win the final counting event to put Molinari in danger of missing out, but now the 27-year-old from Turin joins Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher in the line-up.
Two automatic spots and three wild cards are still to be determined.
"I'm pretty gutted to be honest," said McGowan. "I had a great opportunity to make the team after such a good finish to last year, but there's not much I can do about it."
The shoulder is just the latest problem he has suffered since finishing second to Westwood in the Dubai World Championship last November. First came a knee strain and then a wrist injury.
He bogeyed four of his first seven holes and although he hit his tee shot to the short 17th - his eighth - to 15 feet he squatted down on the tee in obvious pain and as he got up clutched his shoulder and chest.
He dismisses the possibility of a wild card on Sunday evening, knowing that world top 22 players Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Edoardo Molinari - Francesco's brother and World Cup-winning partner - are all needing one of Montgomerie three picks.