Monday 30 May 2016 15:27, UK
Chris Wood has set his sights on a place in Europe’s Ryder Cup side after moving in to the automatic qualification places with BMW PGA Championship victory.
Wood survived a final-round stutter to close a three-under 69 at Wentworth, finishing one clear of nearest challenger Rikard Karlberg and securing a third European Tour title.
The 28-year-old began three shots off the pace but found himself holding a four-stroke lead along the back nine, only to edge home with a nervy back nine.
Victory moves the Bristolian to a career-high 22nd in the world rankings and up in to the third automatic qualification spot on the European Points list, with Wood keen to be part of Darren Clarke's plans at Hazeltine.
"All I wanted this season was to give myself a chance to try and qualify for the Ryder Cup and this has done that," Wood told reporters on Sunday. "Obviously being a Ryder Cup year, this is a good one to win.
"There are three or four months where other players can win big events and overtake me, so I have to keep pushing and pushing.
"We played that EurAsia Cup at the start of the year and Darren was captain there. The videos he played in our team room, they give you goosebumps, and things like that really work for me."
Wood is currently 300,000 euros short of the amount which gave Jamie Donaldson the final qualifying berth in 2014, ahead of a busy summer which sees three majors played in a seven-week stretch.
A place in the Olympics is also possible after closing the gap on Masters champion Danny Willett and Justin Rose in the rankings, although Wood joked: "My stag do is the week of the Olympics. We could possibly postpone that, but not the wedding which is the week after."
