Sam Torrance, the Ryder Cup captain, will be an anxious man this week. The recurring panic over the composition of the European team has begun a little earlier than usual this year as a stream of results, some almost incomprehensible, have further fouled waters already heavily polluted.

No one will be watching the results from the US Open at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which begins on Thursday, more keenly as Torrance is desperate for a good European showing. That some of the players who simply must be in his team at the Belfry in September will earn enough money to make it likely that they qualify automatically.

If they do not, either this week or in the near future, there will be more quality players requiring a captain's selection than the two that Torrance can pick.

The problem lies in the fact that the 12-man Ryder Cup team comprises 10 men who qualify automatically from the European Order of Merit plus two selections by the captain. This does not allow room for manoeuvre if, as has happened this year, several leading players decide to play most of their golf in America.

This year more players than usual have based themselves in the US and it is possible that when the team is announced Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik, Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Per-Ulrik Johansson, will be competing for two spots. That nightmare scenario has worsened because of the poor form of Colin Montgomerie, currently in 12th place.

Torrance is part of the problem, however. When he was appointed captain he delivered himself of the opinion that a 102 split was perfect because the European Tour was strong enough to provide 10 players good enough to win a Ryder Cup.