Ian Poulter and Paul Casey did not help their Ryder Cup causes as they missed the cut after the second round at the Deutsche Bank Championship. British Open and US PGA champion Padraig Harrington was also among those to miss out.
On a day when South African Tim Clark took the lead, Poulter and Casey, who are among several players vying for the two captain's pick on the European team, squandered their final chance to impress Nick Faldo before he names his selections later today.
Casey finished one-under at 141, with Poulter three strokes further back.
"It's so mentally draining to listen and read all the 'BS' all week. I'm spent, exhausted. I didn't want to finish the last two tournaments like this (missing cuts), so we'll have to see," said Poulter, making it perfectly clear he was tired of answering Ryder Cup questions.
"It's a joke," Poulter added after missing the cut at the TPC Boston by five strokes. "It's not the kind of buzz you want to go and play golf on.
"The kind of nonsense that has been in my head for a whole week is not the right kind of pressure. It's distraction pressure. Boy, what one hell of a week."
Asked if he believed he would gain a wildcard selection by Faldo, Poulter replied: "Do you know what? I am sick and tired of all this nonsense.
"I am absolutely spent. I can't waste any more energy thinking about it. If I get the call, I will be ready to play and, trust me, I will do my job."
Casey, on the other hand, denied the Ryder Cup talk had not been a distraction, and was more upset that he might miss out on next week's BMW Championship.
"I'm very frustrated. I've not settled into this golf course very well this week," he said.
Clark, meanwhile, flirted with golf's magical score before settling for a nine-under 62.
Boosted by two eagles, he was 11-under on the day through 16 holes, needing only one more birdie to shoot 59, but he bogeyed his final two holes instead.
Nonetheless, Clark did enough to take the lead at 14-under 128 — a tournament record low halfway score — one stroke ahead of Canadian Mike Weir.
Although Clark was slightly disappointed not to become the fourth player to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour, he could not complain about his position.
"At the start of the day I just wanted to make the cut to make sure I got into next week," he continued. "I got off to a good start and it snowballed from there. I'm disappointed about the 59, but I'm certainly not disappointed."
Harrington, meanwhile, had given himself every chance of making it through to the final two rounds after a second round 65 - 10 strokes better than he managed on Friday.
But on a day of low scores the Dubliner's total of two-under was just outside the mark. Harrington, 23rd in the FedEx rankings going into this weekend, will need to improve at next weekend's BMW Championship if he is to guarantee his place in the lucrative Tour Championship where only the top 30 are eligible to play.
