"Watson overlooking Chris Kirk in favour of Webb Simpson is looking a bigger mistake with each passing day"

Derek Lawrenson takes a look at Team USA as the Tour Championship comes to a close and the two hottest American golfers won't board the chartered flight to Gleneagles.

Lawrenson calls it a combination of bad luck and bad judgement, but the luck may be more a product of the points standing cut-off at the PGA Championship. Then again, Watson got a glimpse of Chris Kirk's second win of the year at the Deutsche Bank and still picked Webb Simpson. And the movie posters have already been printed.

Watson overlooking Chris Kirk in favour of Webb Simpson is looking a bigger mistake with each passing day, while Billy Horschel’s emergence a week late for wild card consideration is indicative of the sort of misfortune America can ill afford.

The expressive Horschel, precisely the sort of passionate character who thrives at a Ryder Cup, summed it up well after his fine victory at the BMW Championship on Sunday.

‘Tom won’t be kicking himself for not picking me but he will probably be wanting to kick me for not playing like this a little earlier,’ said the 27-year-old.

And there was this wisdom from the last winning U.S. captain.

The turn of events has left America’s last winning Ryder Cup captain feeling distinctly uneasy. ‘I would have picked Chris over Webb, certainly,’ said Paul Azinger, skipper in 2008.

‘Chris has won twice this year, he’s hot and I like hot players. Why not pick a rookie? It’s OK picking experience if you’re European but so often with us it’s losing experience.’