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Casey capitulation justifies Monty's decision

Paul Casey suffered meltdown at Cog Hill © Getty Images

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With the ink only just dry on the paper confirming Colin Montgomerie's captain's picks, the Scot could well be forgiven for allowing himself a wry smile after seeing Paul Casey snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the BMW Championship.

Casey and Justin Rose were two of the titled FedEx Four who missed out on a place at the Ryder Cup - with Edoardo Molinari joining the other 'rebels' Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington in the team.

World No. 7 Casey has admitted to being disappointed to miss out, but has sensibly bitten his tongue when asked to express his views on his omission. The Englishman was keen to fire a warning on the course and for much of the BMW Championship at Cog Hill, he looked like doing that. A three-shot lead on the 12th had Casey in complete control of the tournament, but three poorly-constructed bogeys later saw Dustin Johnson take the title by a shot.

There is no questioning Casey's quality as a ball striker and he can get extremely hot on the greens, but under no pressure he collapsed to hand victory to a man who had thrown away winning positions at two of this season's majors. To lose under no pressure means Casey can only have himself to blame and justifies Monty's decision to overlook a hugely gifted player.

Just a couple of days earlier Casey had set himself up for a fall by saying: "I've heard a lot of comments from American fans. The really funny one was from a guy in Boston. I made a long putt and he goes 'if that's the way you putt I'm glad they didn't pick you.'" You get the impression said wag may have had a different comment for Casey had he been at Cog Hill.

Casey has suggested he will be on a biking holiday in Canada the week of the Ryder Cup, but it is likely he has not barred calls from Montgomerie. As mentioned by Out of Bounds earlier, Casey has taken a diplomatic stance when asked to talk about his omission. And the reason for this could be the fitness doubt surrounding Europe's No 1 player Lee Westwood.

Monty's vice-captain Paul McGinley has indicated there are concerns in the camp that Westwood will not shake off the leg injury that has ruled him out since the height of summer in time for Celtic Manor. If that proves to be the case, Casey could be the man to benefit so he may well wait a while before strapping the bike onto the back of the car.

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