Sergio Garcia, one of the stars of Europe's Ryder Cup success, has joined Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, two flops of the American side, in deciding not to play in next month's HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth.
Golf's richest first prize - £1million - is on offer in the 16-man event, but Garcia has chosen instead to play in the Mallorca Classic, where the winner's cheque is only £113,000.
The World Match Play is the event in which Garcia was involved in controversy a few years ago after taking off one of his shoes, kicking it and nearly hitting the match referee when he slipped on a tee playing Retief Goosen.
Lee Westwood, Scott Drummond and Miguel Angel Jimenez are the three Europeans n this year's Wentworth line-up at present, but they could yet be joined by ither Thomas Levet or Padraig Harrington, Dane Anders Hansen and by Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer.
Harrington will knock Levet out if he finishes in the top eight of The Heritage tournament which started at Woburn today and goes ahead of him on the European Order of Merit.
Langer is fourth reserve on a table based on performances in the majors this year, but Americans Chris DiMarco, Justin Leonard, Davis Love and Chris Riley have yet to say whether they are making the trip.
The field is headed by defending champion Ernie Els and three of this season's major winners - world number one Vijay Singh, Todd Hamilton and Goosen.
South Korean KJ Choi, Canada's Mike Weir and American Jeff Maggert are the others who have confirmed their participation so far. Ahead of Langer on the standby list are Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, Australian Robert Allenby and American Steve Flesch.
Meanwhile, Els and Goosen have once more turned down golf's World Cup, being held this year in Seville on October 18th-21st.
South Africa will be represented instead by last year's winners Rory Sabbatini and Trevor Immelman.
The 18 nations who qualify automatically are decided off the world rankings and while that certainly includes England (likely to be Paul Casey and Luke Donald) and Ireland (probably Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley again), Scotland and Wales could find themselves having to qualify.
That is because Colin Montgomerie, Scotland's only player in the world's top 100, has been named for the conflicting UBS Cup - America v Rest of the World for the over-40s - in America.
Drummond, winner of the Volvo PGA Championship in May, and Alastair Forsyth are the next-highest Scots in the rankings at 115th and 121st respectively.
Leading Welshman in the rankings is Phillip Price at 79th, but that puts Wales only 21st prior to any withdrawals. Players have until Friday week to decide whether they are available.
Four of Europe's Ryder Cup side - Harrington, Montgomerie, Ian Poulter and David Howell - are in action at Woburn.