Golfing great Tiger Woods flopped in his bid to clinch an automatic place in the American team, and now may have to go cap in hand to skipper Corey Pavin to get a wild card entry for the Ryder Cup.
Woods needed a final-round flourish on Sunday to get back into the reckoning, but wrapped up his week at Whistling Straits with another inconsistent round, this one, marred by poor driving.
Speaking to media later, he said that it would be back to practice for now and, later, he hopes to be the captain's pick for the Ryder Cup.
According to the Sun, Woods has not shot a sub-70 round since the first day of The Open at St Andrews last month and despite a birdie-birdie start he did not look like ending that dismal run.
At least he threw in a few more birdies - four on the front nine. That is three more than he managed over the same stretch throughout the previous three rounds at the USPGA Championship.
He also carded three bogeys and then crashed to a double bogey on the easy 10th to end any doubts over whether he would need a captain's pick for Celtic Manor in October.
Woods finished on a one-over 73 - his 11th consecutive round without ducking below 70 - to finish the tournament among the also-rans on two under overall. But he confirmed he would accept a Ryder Cup wild card.
He said: "I'd like to make the team but didn't manage it on points so I'll have to rely on Corey. It's whether he wants me.
"My game is heading in the right direction, so I feel I could help the team. Hopefully, Corey will see that," he added.
