Mike Cormack

Paul Casey.

Paul Casey sealed his Ryder Cup fate long before this past Sunday with some questionable summer scheduling.

Paul Casey's disappointment over being being left off the European Ryder Cup team is totally understandable.

If I were him, I'd be kicking myself.

But while expressing his displeasure Sunday, after not being named one of captain Colin Montgomerie's three wild card picks, the world No. 9 refused to acknowledge that his stubborn decision to play the FedEx Cup playoff opener last week, instead of the final European team qualifying in event in Scotland, was what really cost him a place in the side.

"I have done all I can," Casey said at the US PGA Championship in August, when asked if he would travel to Gleneagles in an attempt to secure his place on the team.

It was a curious statement at time, and now in retrospect, it seems an arrogant one at worst.

Of course Casey wasn't alone in risking his place on the European team, in favour of chasing FedEx Cup points.

Fellow hopefuls Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose also teed it up in New Jersey last week, but Casey's 2010 resume-and in the case of Harrington, his career achievements-pales in comparison to these three.

According to several reports, Casey was visibly upset while talking to reporters Sunday, answering several Ryder Cup-related questions before finally closing with, "It was difficult. Can I go now?"

One report indicated at one point that Casey "was unable even to croak out a response and kept his dark sunglasses in place to mask his watery eyes."

Which begs the question again: If he wanted to make the team so badly, why didn't he play at Gleneagles?

Swede Peter Hanson, earned the final spot on the European team with 1,599,952.41 points/Euros. Casey finished with 1,487,776.86 points/Euros, meaning a second place finish or better last week and the Englishmen would have bumped Hanson and saved himself some grief.

Casey could have also opted to play in any number of other European Tour events this past year, in an effort to earn more points.

To be fair, needing to finish in the Top 2 in any event is a tall task-especially when a Ryder Cup berth is on the line-but what does that say then about Italian Edoardo Molinari, who birdied the last three holes Sunday to win at Gleneagles and thereby earn one of Montgomerie's picks?

Casey's talent is unquestioned, but what remains in doubt is his ability to putt under pressure, arguably the most vital skill in match play, and by no coincidence, it happens to be the strongest attribute of the two other men chosen over him, Harrington and Donald.

In addition to their points system, the European team is also selected off a list of world rankings points earned over the past year and a half-in these eyes the most fair and accurate assessment of a player's performance over time.

Casey finished 12th in that table with 164.51 points. Molinari finished 5th (248.41), Donald was 6th (231.16) while Harrington-the most controversial captain's picks in many corners-finished 8th (204.97).

There's no doubt Montgomerie and his ever-expanding backroom boys were well aware of these numbers when debating the picks and it's why we weren't surprised at when he said Sunday: "The job in selecting the wild cards (was) very, very easy for us."