Hanson punishes big guns to seize Cup edge, as Dyson retains glimmer of hope

And it means household names and players with enormous Ryder Cup pedigree, Paul Casey, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose cannot all play at Celtic Manor in October.

Captain Colin Montgomerie will have to leave one of them out when he names his three wild cards next Sunday.

Malton's Simon Dyson would have gone into the top nine by winning in the Czech Republic, but a 72 saw him slip from joint second at the start of the round to fifth, which leaves him behind Ross McGowan, Harrington and Casey in the race for the final spot in the European points table with just one event remaining.

The 32-year-old, who finished tied-12th at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits seven days earlier, shot a 69 on Saturday to move into contention but despite picking up only one shot in a steady, par-filled round yesterday, his challenge faded with a bogey at the par-five 16th.

Dyson's only chance of qualifying now for a Ryder Cup debut at Celtic Manor on October 1-3, is if he wins the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles next week.

Hanson, who was not even in the penultimate event of the year-long race until he received an invitation last Monday, looked like blowing a four-stroke lead as the pressure mounted on the final day in Celadna.

But the 32-year-old birdied the long 16th, then parred the last two to tie with Irishman Peter Lawrie and England's Gary Boyd on the 10-under-par mark of 278.

They had shot 66 and 68 to his error-ridden 74, but after all parred the first extra hole Hanson took his chance on the next after the other two had both missed their birdie attempts.

"To make that putt feels fantastic," he said after taking his European Tour play-off record to three wins out of three.

"And to know I had to come here and win (to climb into the top nine on the points table) and pull it off feels great.

"There's another week to go, but it looks so much better now."

Controversially, Casey, Harrington, Donald and Rose have all elected to stay in America next week for the start of the money-spinning FedEx Cup play-off series rather than travel to Gleneagles for the Johnnie Walker Championship.

Now one of them will pay the price, and it could be more than one because Italian Edoardo Molinari, whose brother and World Cup-winning partner Francesco yesterday secured a debut, needs a wild card as well.

Hanson would have settled for climbing to ninth, but he goes to eighth because Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez managed only a closing 73 on the Prosper course he designed.

That dropped him from joint second overnight into a tie for seventh and it could cost him dear.

The 46-year-old does not intend going to Scotland either, preferring to attend a nephew's wedding, and could be knocked out of the team by Ross McGowan, Dyson or Alvaro Quiros. Dyson, like Quiros, will have to win next Sunday to make the team, while McGowan, joint 25th today, needs a top-two finish.

Like Francesco Molinari, Irish Open champion Ross Fisher will head to the final event knowing his first cap is in the bag.

They chose to rest this week and the results of Jimenez and McGowan make it certain they will join Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter in the side.

Hanson was buckling under the pressure when he had three successive bogeys from the second and then double-bogeyed the 12th after grabbing back the lead. Lawrie set the clubhouse target thanks to an amazing burst around the turn when he birdied the eighth and ninth, pitched in from 90 yards for eagle on the 10th and birdied the next two.

Tour rookie Boyd, with no previous top 10s on the circuit, led after a front nine 31, three-putted the 11th and 15th for bogeys and the 16th for par, but then made a 12-footer from the back fringe on the last.

There was a difference of over 142,000 between winning and losing the play-off, and for Hanson it was almost 160,000 Ryder Cup points.

Lawrie's chip on the first extra hole hit the cup, but stayed out. If it had gone in Hanson would have only gone up to 11th on the cup list.

Instead he achieved what he set out to and can now only lose his place if Dyson wins next weekend and McGowan comes second.

Ryder Cup Standings

(qualifiers in bold)

World Points

1 Lee Westwood 422.0

2 Rory McIlroy 316.9

3 Martin Kaymer 285.4

4 Graeme McDowell 249.3

5 Luke Donald 231.1,

6 Edoardo Molinari 218.4

7 Ian Poulter 211.2

8 Padraig Harrington 204.9

European Points

1 Lee Westwood 3,446,137

2 Martin Kaymer 2,638,282

3 Rory McIlroy 2,368,205

4 G McDowell 2,307,041

5 Ian Poulter 2,238,874

6 Ross Fisher 1,708,614

7 F Molinari 1,612,747

8 Peter Hanson 1,580,707

9 Miguel A Jimenez 1,554,775

10 Paul Casey 1,487,776

11 P Harrington 1,486,529

12 Ross McGowan 1,414,157

13 Simon Dyson 1,307,700