Paul Lawrie's unexpected arrival in this year's Ryder Cup team was yesterday welcomed with open arms by the European captain Mark James.

"Any man who can shoot 67 in the last round at Carnoustie and then birdie the last two holes of a playoff to win the Open will more than do for me," he said on the eve of the 75th Dutch Open.

"I have absolutely no worries about how he will cope with playing in the match for the first time." Lawrie's Open triumph, which has lifted him to second place in the Ryder qualifying table behind Colin Montgomerie, also means that James now knows the identity of seven members of his team to face the United States in Boston in September. The other five certainties are Ireland's Darren Clarke, the Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jarmo Sandelin and Lee Westwood. Six tournaments remain to determine the other three automatic places which are currently filled by Jean Van de Velde, James himself and Sergio Garcia.

The Frenchman and the Spanish teenager are recuperating after their Carnoustie catastrophes and plan to return in the European Open in Ireland next week, but James and the next five players within striking distance, all bracketed by only 287 points, have joined Clarke, Olazabal and Westwood in Holland in pursuit of a first prize of more than £133,000 on offer in the Dutch Open.

Also here is the world number 10 Nick Price, the 1994 Open champion, while the Australian Stephen Leaney defends the title.

The man James would most like to make progress is Bernhard Langer in 12th. James is likely to have at least four rookies under his command at Brookline and sees the German's experience as vital.

Langer, 18th in Scotland, is sparing no effort in giving James as many options as possible and avoiding the necessity of a wild card. He will be in Dublin next week, then cross the Atlantic to play in the US PGA before immediately returning for the BMW Open in Munich, the last qualifying tournament.

The Germans Sven Struver, Dutch champion two years ago, and Alex Cejka, the Scot Andrew Coltart and England's David Howell are the other leading Ryder candidates who have serious hopes of an automatic place in Boston.

The bad news for them all is that the rough at the thickly wooded Hilversum is almost as penal as Carnoustie's, and winds of up to 25-mph are forecast for the first two days.