Wild Card Watch / Bill Elliott / 26 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

A lot may happen at Gleneagles but Bill Elliott reckons he knows who will make the final two places in the European team. Or does he?

Right, we're nearly there. Valhalla that is and the Ryder Cup. Thank someone's lord. Roll on September and Louisville and the Muhammad Ali Museum. Oh, okay then, the golf as well.

By now if you don't realise that Nick Faldo will name his two captain's picks for Europe at the end of the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles this Sunday then where have you been? Beijing perhaps?

A lot may yet happen both here and in the United States where Paul Casey and Ian Poulter have rather obstinately remained to play in the Fedex Cup rather than try to secure their places over here. This may turn out to be the smart decision on their part but there remains some doubt about its wisdom, particularly in the case of Poulter whose form since his Open heroics at Birkdale has been iffy.

It is now five months since Faldo poured me a cup of coffee in Augusta and stressed that his choices would be based on current form rather than rankings and he has said nothing since to suggest he has change his mind about this strategy.

This means that Darren Clarke must now be, if not a shoo-in, then a very, very serious consideration. And rightly so. While fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington admits he is a serial overachiever, Clarke equally honestly claims to be a resolute underachiever. Each is spot on.

While no-one may now doubt the relentless ambition and work-ethic of Harrington, no-one may doubt either that Clarke always has been the most naturally gifted. Nobody, either, can under-estimate the effect of his wife's death two years ago and the seriousness with which he then took on the role of single parent to their two young sons.

A year ago as he struggled to regain any form and impetus in his job I asked him what he considered himself to be, what was his own job description. He hesitated for a few seconds and then said: "If I was filling in one of those passport forms and it was the bit that asked me what my occupation was then I'd put down 'Father'.

That he has pulled this off - the bond between dad and lads only too obvious when he won in Holland on Sunday, the first time they had been present to see him actually win - is hugely to his credit. Sure, we all would have done the same but trying and succeeding are two different things. Whatever else the big man has underachieved at in his career being a caring dad is not one of them.

While this sentiment is correct it will not, and nor should it, play any part when Faldo sits down with himself in his suite at Gleneagles to debate who to pick. Clarke would not expect that and neither would he want it.

What he does know, and what I know, is that his inclusion would ensure the selection of a man eager to grasp all the good moments left to him in his life. Two years ago at The K Club, Clarke played some of the best golf of his life through a curtain of tears. Many of us watched it through our own watery eyes.

Rest assured that his is one name the USA's Paul Azinger would prefer not to hear when Faldo clears his throat to speak around tea-time on Sunday. A lot may yet happen before then but it is difficult for this observer to see any real alternative to Clarke for Faldo.

A ready made partner for his close pal Lee Westwood and a sturdily reassuring presence in any team room, Clarke is made for this Ryder Cup action on enemy ground. Faldo may see it differently but whatever else the European skipper is, he is not a stupid man and the smart thing to do this time is the obvious one.

Darren Clarke and Paul Casey have to be the picks. Or do they? We'll see...

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