Miguel Angel Jimenez to boost Ryder bid at Gleneagles

Jimenez made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999

Miguel Angel Jimenez has decided to play in this week's Johnnie Walker Championship to try to secure his place in the Ryder Cup team.

The 46-year-old originally planned to miss the Gleneagles event to attend his nephew's wedding on Saturday.

But Peter Hanson's Czech Open triumph dropped Jimenez to the ninth and final automatic qualifying spot.

The Spaniard could still be overtaken in the Cup standing by Ross McGowan, Simon Dyson and Alvaro Quiros.

Jimenez's manager, Sarah Phillips, said: "Basically Miguel feels that this is quite likely to be his last opportunity to play in the match.

"He looked at the points situation on his flight back to Malaga [from the Czech Open] and then texted me to say he was going to play.

"It's sod's law that one of the players who can pass him would do so if he wasn't there, so he wants to give himself the best opportunity."

Jimenez was lying second to Hanson going into Sunday's final round at Celadna, but only finished seventh after a disappointing 73.

Of his rivals, McGowan needs a top-two finish at Gleneagles to have any chance of securing a place in Colin Montgomerie's European team, while Dyson and Quiros both need to win.

The U-turn by Jimenez, bidding to play in his fourth Ryder Cup, could also have Francesco Molinari looking nervously over his shoulder.

The Italian is currently lying seventh in the Ryder Cup points table but could drop out of the top nine if McGowan wins the Johnnie Walker, Jimenez is placed in the top six and Hanson finishes in the top 10.

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Molinari's brother, Edoardo, who won the Scottish Open last month, is one of several players hoping to be handed a wild card by Montgomerie for Europe's meeting with the USA at Celtic Manor in October.

The captain has three picks, with Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose among those vying for a place.

Casey, Harrington and Donald had a chance of automatic qualification had they played at Gleneagles, but the trio have controversially chosen to remain in America to compete in the first of the lucrative FedEx Cup play-off series.