Ian Poulter put at risk his chances of playing for Europe in next month’s Ryder Cup last night by withdrawing from the Johnnie Walker Championship, the last qualifying event, which gets under way at Gleneagles on Thursday.

Poulter, one of seven players still in with a chance of qualifying automatically for the team, has chosen instead to play in the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, Massachusetts - the second of four play-off events for the lucrative FedEx Cup that carries a $10 million (about £5.5 million) first prize - and is now relying on one of two wild cards from Nick Faldo, the Europe captain, for the 12-man team for Valhalla, Kentucky.

Despite finishing runner-up at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, Poulter will face stiff competition from the inform Paul Casey and Darren Clarke. But after missing the halfway cut last week in The Barclays tournament in New York, the first of the FedEx Cup play-offs, the Englishman needs to play in Boston to try to secure a place in the final two tournaments, the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship.

In a statement, Poulter, the world No 23, said: “It has been an extremely difficult decision to take given my burning desire to represent Europe again. But the fact that Boston this week is my only opportunity to qualify for the final two play-off events, as well as being my final opportunity to play my [required] 15 events on the US PGA Tour, conflicts with my ambition to play Gleneagles and earn my spot in the team. I have called Nick Faldo and told him of my decision and hope that my performances so far this year will earn one of his two wild-card picks.”

Casey, likewise, has decided not to play at Gleneagles. He has not, however, missed a chance to impress the captain. As he stood over what turned out to be his final putt at The Barclays event on Sunday evening, he would have been fully aware that Faldo was sitting in a television commentary booth overlooking the 18th green and watching his every move.

As Casey sized up a 22-foot putt for a birdie at the 72nd hole that would move him to six under par and two shots outside an eventual play-off place, Faldo almost comically raised the stakes by stating: “If he makes this, he’s in the team.” The words might have been in jest, but as the ball fell into the hole, Faldo was soon back-tracking. “OK,” he said, “I can’t quite make my mind up yet.”

If his ears had been burning at that moment, Casey did not let on, but when told what Faldo had said, he had some fun at the captain’s expense. “Oh, we’ve got that on tape,” he said. “Lawyers would have a field day with that one.”

On a more serious note, Casey - the world No 35 and a member of Europe’s past two winning teams - admitted that he had spoken to Faldo, but would not reveal what had passed between them. “He’s keeping his cards close to his chest,” Casey said.

After finishing tied seventh at the Open Championship, Casey has come into form at the right time. He shared eighth place at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, a World Golf Championships event, in Akron, Ohio; finished equal fifteenth at the US PGA Championship, the final major of the year, at Oakland Hills, in Detroit, and tied seventh on Sunday, when he was disappointed with a closing round of 72 after beginning the day one shot off the lead. In the end, victory went to Vijay Singh, who beat Sergio GarcÍa with a birdie at the second extra hole.

With an innate sense of timing, Clarke - who has played in five successive Ryder Cup matches dating back to 1997, finishing four times on the winning side - also pushed himself to the forefront of Faldo’s mind with an emphatic victory at the KLM Open in Zandvoort, in the Nether-lands, his second victory of the season.

Most importantly, Clarke would provide a huge presence in a team-room that will almost certainly be devoid of Colin Montgomerie, whose hopes of a captain’s pick seem to have gone the way of his form: backwards. Of the six players left chasing the last three automatic qualifying places, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson occupy eighth, ninth and tenth positions, but could be supplanted by Martin Kaymer, of Germany, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.