Westwood's woes could yet see Casey bound for Ryder
European Ryder Cup vice-captain Paul McGinley has admitted that Lee Westwood could still miss out on the tournament next month.
The Englishman has been out of the game since August, recuperating from a torn calf muscle. And his fitness or lack thereof makes Westwood "an unknown factor", as McGinley acknowledged in an interview with the Guardian.
"We have been hurt by Lee Westwood's injury," McGinley said. "There's no doubt about that. It's going to be an unknown factor until Lee turns up that week and we see how he feels, having not competed since the Open. That's a disappointment for Europe."
"We've had some issues – none more so than Lee having been injured and not having played. He's our No1 player so I think it's going to be a very close Ryder Cup."
McGinley added that he was confident Westwood would play a role at the competition - before adding: "You never know with these injuries."
In other words, Westwood may struggle for form after his lay-off - but the European No. 1 could feasibly miss out on the tournament altogether.
Ordinarily, a withdrawal from the team would result in a call-up for the next man on the Ryder Cup world points qualifying list. But in this case that's Edoardo Molinari, already on the team thanks to a wildcard pick. That means Colin Montgomerie would be awarded another wildcard pick, according to a spokesman for the European Tour.
Should Westwood be deemed unfit to represent Europe, the most obvious candidate to replace him would be Paul Casey. Currently the third highest-placed European in the world rankings at No. 7 - only Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer are higher, at Nos. 3 and 5 respectively - Casey missed out on victory in Illinois this week by a stroke to Dustin Johnson, after dropping a three-shot lead on the back nine.
If that carelessness was unfortunate, it didn't alter the fact that Casey was mixing it up with the best US players on their home turf - and doing so in a manner which no European Ryder Cup team member came close to matching. Casey was the only European in the top 10, his friend and fellow countryman Ian Poulter dropping to 13th place and finishing some six strokes behind, having starting the day on the same mark as Casey.
Asked after his round if the failure to land a place on the Ryder Cup team had motivated Casey to play well, the 32-year-old replied simply "Yes." Asked to expand, he added only "I can't."
Casey is understandably wary of saying the wrong thing, having been the victim of press manipulation before; in 2004, when discussing the Ryder Cup, Casey jokily talked about "hating America" only to find his comments being reported as if the golfer were in deadly earnest.
But perhaps the man is just displaying a dignity that tends to be relatively rare in sportsmen these days. Whatever, Casey's omission from the team was hugely difficult to justify in the first place; perhaps it's a mistake that could still be rectified.
No-one wants to see the European No. 1 miss out on the biennial clash - but if Westwood must sit this one out, there's surely no finer a replacement than Casey. Even if he should have been there from the start.
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