GOLF/International Open: You don't always get what you want, the way you want it. Paul McGinley had wanted to sprint over the line in securing his place on the Ryder Cup team.

Yesterday, the Dubliner hit the proverbial wall, missing the cut in the BMW International Open, to leave his qualifying fate in the hands of others.

If he is to book a third successive berth on the European team for the most pressurised environment in professional golf at The K Club in three weeks, it will be by lurching over the finishing line.

It wasn't meant to be this way.

Still, almost despite himself, the odds are stacked in McGinley's favour to make the European team. But, given his poor form, will it be as an asset or a liability? McGinley is not one to hide behind excuses, and he knows well the form he has shown in recent months - just one top-10 finish all summer, in the European Open in early July - won't be good enough come the Ryder Cup.

"I'm struggling with my golf game. I'm struggling and my results show it. I've lost confidence. I've lost the feel for my swing and, obviously, my putting is very, very mediocre. I've got to sort it out. I'm driving the ball poorly and I'm putting poorly. Put those two things together, and you know I'm battling. I'm not on my game," said McGinley.

"The bottom line is, I'm not on form. But I know it will turn. It'll turn. I will get my form back. It is not like it is a million miles away.

"All I need is one or two good rounds and a bit of confidence and off I go," added a candid McGinley, who intends to seek out his coach, Bob Torrance, over the next two weeks to seek guidance before immersing himself in the heat of Ryder Cup battle.

"At the moment I have got lots of questions, but I have no answers."

Yesterday's second round in Munich typified McGinley's plight, as bad approach shots had him using body language to coax the ball to change course, and flinging clubs to his caddie after poor efforts.

Padraig Harrington, who played with his friend, and who has played team events with him dating back to the late-1980s in their time as amateurs, put McGinley's on-course antics down to simply "over-trying, it's unlike Paul to bang a club, or anything like that," he said.

Indeed, when McGinley ironically rolled in a birdie putt on the final hole yesterday for a 72 that left him well outside the cut mark on 147, Harrington's first actions were to congratulate him on making the Ryder Cup team.

Shortly after finishing his round, McGinley headed home to Surrey to see his family, and plans to watch the Ireland-Germany match on television this evening, still not willing to accept that his place was secure until it was mathematically safe.

"Whatever will be will be. I am not that caught up in the whole thing. I haven't sat round the computer every night like everybody thinks I have. My issue has been my form and that is what I have been trying to turn around, and I haven't been able to do it. It is all about Paul McGinley. I play well and everything looks after itself. I haven't been able to do that, so now I have got to rely on others."

If it was any comfort to him, Harrington believed McGinley was safe.

"It's been nine months with a noose around his neck and it's been nine months of hell for him, and the best thing that can happen to Paul is that it's finished. It's over and done with and now he can get on with things," said Harrington.