The two places couldn't be more different. Whistling Straits is a contrived links-style course hard on the shore of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, with characteristics more associated with the seaside links of Ireland; Oakland Hills, in Detroit, where next month's Ryder Cup takes place, is a traditional, US parkland layout, with tree-lined holes and severely undulating greens. Yet, for the past few days, the two have been inextricably linked.

For many players, their performance in the US PGA has been accompanied by the shadow of attempting to secure their places on either the US team or the European team. At least the Europeans have two more weeks - taking in the NEC in Akron and next week's BMW International in Munich - to book their tickets. For the Americans, this was it, the end of the road.

And it was very much the end for some, among them Wisconsin native Jerry Kelly, who had started out the season's final major in 11th place in the US standings and missed the cut, for the first time this season.

Today, US captain Hal Sutton will walk into a downtown hotel in Milwaukee knowing the 10 players who've automatically qualified for his team, and his job will be to name two captain's wild cards. It would be a shock of seismic proportions if Kelly, despite his assertion that he would give "1,000 per cent" effort to the team, will be among the two picks, for Sutton has available to him a list of players with previous Ryder Cup experience and those who have won majors.

Yesterday, his opposite number, Bernhard Langer, finished his involvement as a player in the PGA and stood outside the clubhouse and cast his mind to the challenges of picking wild cards. Asked who he'd go for if he were in Hal Sutton's shoes, a deadpan Langer responded, "Fred Couples and John Daly".

Maybe a case of wishful thinking?

If Langer doesn't have any say in the matter of who Sutton will select, he does have complete control over who he will add to the team come the Sunday night of the BMW International.

Ironically, Langer - who plans to have a meeting with prospective European team members in Akron tomorrow evening, where players "can ask whatever questions they wish" - won't be in Germany until the Sunday. His daughter, Jackie, starts college at Samford University in Alabama on the Thursday.

"It's something I can't miss," said Langer. "I'm her father and I have already missed her birth, which was only partially my fault because my wife didn't tell me."

His plan is to watch the tournament on The Golf Channel, before flying to Germany and, that evening, naming his wild cards.

Who will they be? It would seem that the assumption that Colin Montgomerie will get one card is some way wide of the mark. "I'm hoping that someone will help me out by playing their way on to the team at Akron and Munich," said Langer. "If somebody has a very big tournament, because of the size of the prize money, they can get in automatically."

After finishing his round yesterday, Langer was adamant he had up to eight players still in mind.

"I don't see the two guys yet," he said. "I see a lot of players who want to be on the team and who should be on the team. (Fredrik) Jacobsen, (Paul) McGinley, (Luke) Donald, (Jean Francois) Remesy, (Colin) Montgomerie are all playing good and all these are players who are not on the team yet and I can only take two of them."

He added: "I'm looking at a lot of things but, obviously, experience and form are important. I've got to be fair to everyone. Monty has the experience and that is something I have to look at and he has a chance to make the team. But don't make any assumptions. He played well at the British Open and the Scandinavian Masters, but I'm sure he's not overly happy with his performance here this week.

"If you look at Donald - just because you're young doesn't mean you are not ready. He's got a very good swing, hits the ball straight, works very hard and is very keen. I'll certainly be looking at him. But there's a lot of guys. I am not looking at anyone down in 40th or 50th (in the rankings), I'm only looking at those in the top 20. A win or second-place finish (in the final two counting tournaments) will take them up to either on the team or very, very close."

Whoever Sutton picks, Langer claimed that the United States will be favourites.

"They are favourites," he said. "They're higher in the world rankings and won more majors the last few years. Plus, they are playing at home, but that puts pressure on them to because everyone expects them to win, and rightly so.

"If we lose it is not a big deal really. We are the underdogs. That puts extra pressure on them and probably helps us."

Still, Langer will be keeping a keen ear for who Sutton names. Maybe the combination of Daly and Couples is a long shot.

According to Sutton, the attributes required for playing Oakland Hills are "accuracy and being a good iron player . . . and you've got to be a good putter to close the deal."

We'll await his nominations with interest.