NICK FALDO has insisted that he wants to earn a Ryder Cup place on merit alone. Ryder Cup captain Seve Ballesteros said recently that nobody, not even US Masters champion Faldo, is guaranteed one of his two wild cards and that he will make no decision until the end of the qualifying race on August 31st.

But Faldo, in Hawaii for the" 36-hole Grand Slam, was undaunted. "If I play well I will be on the team and if I'm not then I shouldn't be on the team," he said.

He also stated that he had no intention changing his 1997 schedule just in order to earn more qualifying points. "I have my schedule and that's what I am sticking to," said Faldo, whose next planned appearance in Europe is not until the Loch Lomond World Invitational next July.

The 39-year-old has so far played two out of seven Ryder Cup qualifying events, but finished only 25th in the Lancome Trophy and 37th at Loch Lomond. It now seems likely he will play only five of the remaining 30 counting tournaments and that puts the pressure on him to do well in the majors if he is to avoid relying on Ballesteros picking him.

Although he has not won since Augusta in April, Faldo, who finished 12th on the USPGA Tour money list with over £600,000, said: "I think most parts of my game have improved.

"I'm second in driving accuracy and have gone up from 79th to ninth in putting. Golf is still very much number, one and I'm making it more so.

Faldo has just parted company from Mark McCormack's International Management Group.

Heavy rain and wind gusts up to 40 mph over the Poipu Bay Resort course in Hawaii forced the postponement of the first round of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf yesterday. Julius Mason, spokesman for the USPGA, said a decision would be made later today on how the 36-hole tournament would be completed.