Ian Poulter's decision to rely on a Ryder Cup wild card rather than play in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles this week does not appear to have gone down well with other players.

Darren Clarke, waiting to hear if he might be one of Nick Faldo's picks after his win in the Netherlands on Sunday, said today: "Most of us would have liked to see him trying to qualify."

Poulter could have made the top 10 in the points table by coming fifth in Scotland this week, but is instead playing in Boston.

"He has stated his desire to make the team, so he obviously thinks it's better for him to be over there," added Clarke.

Colin Montgomerie, who believes his only chance of a wild card now is a return to form in Scotland, commented: "Every player who plays his way into the team makes the team stronger.

"He seems to have been on a hotline to Nick for a while, but it would have been nice for him to have played here.

"I can't really speak for anybody playing or not playing - he has his own schedule."

Justin Rose is one of Poulter's closest friends, but even he was a "a little bit surprised" when he heard that Poulter was staying in America.

"Maybe he feels like he's done enough — that's all I can imagine,"  said Rose, whose own chances of a debut have risen because it will now take three out of five players to go past him on the points table rather than three out of six.

"Just reading between the lines he (Poulter) is certainly very well placed in terms of world rankings (23rd against Casey's 35th, Darren Clarke's 56th and Colin Montgomerie's 91st) and The Open is still relatively recent in my opinion.

"But I haven't spoken to him this week and I'll be quite interested obviously to hear what his thoughts are."

Poulter said in a statement on Monday that this week was his final chance to complete the 15 events required for membership of the US Tour.

"You might have thought he would have known that before he entered or pulled out of here," added Montgomerie.

In any case, the US Tour extends to the start of November and if Poulter had flown back to Europe this week he would have six further chances to play his 15th event, the last two of them in Florida, where he has a base.

What coming to Scotland would have meant, though, is that the British Open runner-up could not have qualified for the third leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs.

But with Clarke, Montgomerie, Paul Casey and Paul McGinley all needing one of Faldo's two wild cards as well and with one week left to run would Faldo really have guaranteed Poulter a pick just to help his US Tour career?

Casey has also stayed in America, but the difference between him and Poulter this week is that he could not have made the team on points.

As for Montgomerie, he is unsure if a win will be good enough for a wild card pick.

"I have no idea how he (Faldo) feels I have to perform this week," Montgomerie told a Gleneagles news conference today. "But hopefully I'm past the stage of justifying my Ryder Cup potential.
   
"My game two weeks ago was poor in America and I took a couple of weeks off, the second week I've been practising up here at Gleneagles every day. I feel very confident now in trying to win this event.

The Ryder Cup takes place at Valhalla, Kentucky, from September 19th-21st.