Casey and Poulter miss Boston cut

SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD: US unless stated
-14 T Clark (SA) -13 M Weir (Can) -12 B Curtis, V Singh (Fij) -11 J Furyk, K Streelman, E Els (SA), S Garcia (Spa)
Selected others: -1 P Casey (Eng) +2 I Poulter (Eng)

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Poulter is relying on a wildcard from Nick Faldo to reach the Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup hopefuls Paul Casey and Ian Poulter missed the cut in their last chance to impress captain Nick Faldo at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

The English pair, both vying for Ryder Cup wildcards, carded 73 and 74 respectively, while many other players shot rounds in the 60s.

Casey finished one under and Poulter one over for the tournament, with the cut falling at three under.

South African Tim Clark leads on 14 under after firing a 62 in Boston.

The kind of nonsense that's been in my head for a whole week is not the right kind of pressure Ian Poulter

On his return to the clubhouse, Poulter blamed the media for creating distractions during the week.

"It's a joke," he said of the Ryder Cup presssure. "It's not the kind of buzz you want to play golf on, trust me. The kind of nonsense that's been in my head for a whole week is not the right kind of pressure.

"It's so mentally draining to listen and read all the 'BS' all week.

"You've read it. You wrote it. Some of you might be guilty or not, I don't know. But boy, what a hell of a 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."

Casey and Poulter failed to qualify for one of the top 10 automatic spots on the European Ryder Cup team, and must wait for Faldo to announce his two picks following the Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland on Sunday.

The pair face competition from Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, who are both playing at Gleneagles.

Casey denied the Ryder Cup talk had been a distraction, and suggested he was more upset that he might miss out on qualifying in the top 70 on the FedEx Cup standings for the BMW Championship.

Only the top 30 players after next week's BMW Championship qualify for the following event, the $10m (£5.5m) season-ending Tour Championship.

"I'm very frustrated. I've not settled into this golf course very well this week," he said.

Clark edged past first-round leader Mike Weir, who added a 68 to Friday's course record-equalling 61.

Canadian Weir sits a shot behind Clark, with US Ryder Cup debutant Ben Curtis and Fiji's Vijay Singh a further shot back on 12 under.

Four men - US pair Jim Furyk and Kevin Streelman, South African Ernie Els and Spain's Sergio Garcia - were in a group on 11 under.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the Deutsche Bank Championship

Ireland's three-time major winner Padraig Harrington carded a much-improved 65 following his horrendous first-round 75, but still failed to make the cut by a single shot.

Londoner Brian Davis stormed home with four successive birdies on his back nine to ensure he made the last two rounds at six under.

US Ryder Cup skipper Paul Azinger has four further Ryder Cup places to award on 2 September.

DJ Trahan, one of those in the hunt for a US wildcard, lay five shots off the lead on nine under through two rounds.

Hunter Mahan (-8), Steve Stricker (-6) and Woody Austin (-4) all made the cut, as did Rocco Mediate, who squeezed in at three under for the tournament.

But JB Holmes and Sean O'Hair, two players also in the mix for wildcards, fell short.