Thursday 26 May 2016 09:19, UK
Luke Donald and Russell Knox are both determined to enhance their chances of playing in the Ryder Cup with strong performances at this week's BMW PGA Championship.
Donald is a two-time champion at the European Tour's flagship event, edging out Lee Westwood in a play-off in 2011 before successfully defending the title by a comfortable four-shot margin a year later.
The Englishman arrives at Wentworth this year having climbed back to 76th in the world rankings following some encouraging recent results on the PGA Tour after almost dropping out of the top 100 earlier this year.
The 38-year-old has not featured in the Ryder Cup since making his fourth appearance at Medinah in 2012, and he has set his sights on making Darren Clarke's team for Hazeltine this year.
"Obviously it's a goal of mine, I would love to be on that team," said Donald at his pre-tournament press conference. "A win this week would go a long way to get me right in the mix and I would love to make that team on my own without having to force Darren to make any kind of pick.
"You just keep kind of working on your game and I've started to see some good results, keep doing that and hopefully that will be good enough.
"This is an event I love playing. Obviously there are a lot of points up for grabs and this is an event I've had some previous success at and feel comfortable around.
"I would love to have a good week here. If I could even throw in a win, it would go a long way towards getting back that form that [has started] to show over the past couple of months."
Knox remains confident of earning a place on the European team on merit, although his victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions last year did not count towards the qualifying points list as he was not a member of the European Tour at the time.
But he became a member shortly afterwards and he is now 17th on the world points list following his runner-up finish at last week's Irish Open, where he was one ahead with three to play before Rory McIlroy's remarkably run of shot making down the stretch relegated the Scot to a share of second.
"The Ryder Cup is a huge goal now," said Knox. After I won in China, it was realistic to make the team, but at the same time, there's still a lot to be done. Now I've finished second three times since that. I played good enough to be right up there at The Players Championship for 71 holes.
"So really, I've had four really good tournaments since then, and to be honest, I expect to make the team now. If I keep playing the way I'm going, I think I can do it and I sure hope I do.
"Wherever I am in the points list, arguably I'm higher up because my win didn't count, but obviously Darren Clarke knows that. But at the same time, I won that tournament, and no one can take that away from me, so we'll see where it ends up."