Ross Fisher will be hoping that come the end of August, he will not be left rueing just a couple of holes out of the 1,700-odd he will have played in trying to qualify for this year’s Ryder Cup team.

The Wentworth Golf Club ace, who returns to the Kennemer golf course to defend his KLM Open crown in Holland, needs a couple of big weeks to gatecrash Nick Faldo’s European Ryder Cup Team, despite his big win at the London Golf Club, just six weeks ago.

Ross Fisher currently lies in 13th place in the qualifying table from the European Ryder Cup points list, and a successful defence of his first-ever golf title since turning golf pro four years ago could lift him as high as eighth.

But the former two-time Surrey Colts golf champion knows he could already be in that place but for two unfortunate mistakes – firstly the last hole at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai when he could have beaten world number two Phil Mickelson to the title, if he had not taken a double bogey seven after chipping through the green into water.

That mistake cost him more than €275,000 in prize money and the equivalent number of points as he was left tied alongside fellow StrokeAverage.com client Lee Westwood after a play-off which the American won.

And with just one hole to play at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Ross Fisher was lying in seventh spot but a painful quadruple bogey eight, after getting into trouble off the tee, saw him tumble down the leaderboard into 39th place.

That cost the 27-year-old, another £64,000 and 80,000 in Ryder Cup points.

There has been drama all the way with the quietly confident former England amateur international golfer – he had a nervous 20-minute wait before he was confirmed as the KLM champion after a TV viewer spotted a potential breach of the rules.

Ross Fisher was cleared of having illegally moved a bramble which his ball had come to rest against on the 12th hole.

He was taken back to the spot by the head referee to find the offending plant before studying video footage to ascertain whether he had either improved his lie or stance by moving it.

Now as he returns to the Dutch golf course, he will have Ryder Cup rivals Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson in his sights.

Justin Rose, who has opted to play in Holland – ironically the scene of his pro debut after his heroics as an amateur in the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club – instead of the first FedEx Cup play-off in New York, in a desperate bid to ensure he does not drop out of the European Ryder Cup qualifying list.

If his great friend Ian Poulter finishes in the top four at the Barclays Classic at Ridgewood Country Club he can leap frog Robert Karlsson, which would leave the Swede qualifying via the European points table, relegating one of Justin Rose’s rivals hopes into the hands of captain Nick Faldo, who will make his two wildcard selections after next week’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

Rose is just €45,555 ahead of Oliver Wilson, who has three runners-up spots but no victories under his belt this season, with Soren Hansen, also looking to make his Ryder Cup debut in Kentucky in September, just a further 2,395 points behind.

But it is one of the pre-tournament favourites to take Ross Fisher’s KLM title – Germany’s Martin Kaymer – who could upset everyone’s plans.

The 23-year-old, who has already won in Abu Dhabi and the BMW Open Championship in his homeland, is just 213 points behind Soren Hansen.

At least two members of that quintet are likely to be left praying Nick Faldo will hand them a wildcard for Valhalla Golf Club.

But with Paul Casey, who is playing with Ian Poulter in America this week, and veterans Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke all outside the automatic places, there are going to be a number of broken-hearted golfers come September 1 when Nick Faldo makes his choice public.

StrokeAverage.com consultancy clients Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell are already assured of a place in the European team which will be attempting to win the Ryder Cup for a record fourth time in a row.

Golf article end.