Darren Clarke has called for an end to the flak that has been flying in Ian Poulter’s direction since Nick Faldo included the flamboyant dresser as one of his two wildcard picks on Sunday.

The Ultsterman, who recorded his second win on the comeback trail whilst using StrokeAverage.com’s golf stats and golf performance analysis services, in Holland two weeks ago, appealed for the Woburn golfer to be left out of the war or words prompted by Nick Faldo's controversial decision to overlook Darren Clarke’s claims when nearly everyone in the game had the 40-year-old as a “nailed-on” pick going into the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, which saw Frenchman Gregory Havret hold off the challenge of Graeme Storm, and several golfers on the verge of the European Ryder Cup team.

Darren Clarke told Sky News on Tuesday: “I think ‘Poults’ has been dragged into a situation which was caused not by his own doing, but because Nick has changed his mind and gone back on it.

“But at the end of the day, that's his decision. So I think Poults has maybe been caught taking the brunt of a lot of things which is not his fault. We all know Poults, we know he's lively and he has fun, but we know he's a great guy.

“He's a great player, he's 24 in the world. Both Paul Casey and Ian Poulter are ahead of me in the world rankings.

“That's the yardstick to which we're all measured, and that's the way it is. I do feel for Poults. I do feel he's been given a lot of stick, a lot of criticism through no fault of his own.”

Two past winning Ryder Cup captains have both criticized Nick Faldo’s second important decision of his captaincy, and the first since choosing his vice-captains last summer.

Sam Torrance, who won the Ryder Cup trophy at The Belfry in 2002, and Bernard Gallacher - winner at the West Midlands course in 1995 at Oak Hill Golf Club in New York, after two defeats in a row, were among those to come out in favour of Clarke, within 24 hours of Nick Faldo naming his choices in Scotland.

The Scot, who played in eight Ryder Cup teams with Nick Faldo in the 1980s and ‘90s, felt Darren Clarke – the only European to have won two World Golf Championship events deserved to be picked ahead of Ian Poulter, who has not won in Europe since the Madrid Open – in October 2006.

Sam Torrance said: “For me it was always Casey and Clarke I would have gone for, although I can understand Poulter made it very difficult choice for Nick. He saw some great golf from Poulter at the Open.“

But the golfer who finished runner-up to Padraig Harrington at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, in July, made a serious error by opting to play in the FedEx Cup play-off in Boston instead of travelling to Gleneagles, when he still had a chance to make it into one of the automatic top 10 spots.

Sam Torrance added: “He would have got a yellow card from me over that.”

Darren Clarke, while disappointed not to be included in a sixth successive European Ryder Cup team, insisted he bore no animosity towards Nick Faldo.

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