Golf: Woosnam looks to greens with cup in mind: Welshman needs victory in Munich to sustain his hopes of playing at The Belfry

IAN WOOSNAM, who has played in only nine European Tour events this year, knows what he has to do to gain automatic selection for the Ryder Cup team at The Belfry in September.

'If I win here,' Woosnam said as he warmed up for the BMW International Open in Munich, which starts today, 'I would go over the 300,000 points mark. That would put me very close and then all I would need is another cheque by making the cut at the Murphy's English Open.'

Woosnam is only 17th in the Ryder Cup points table at present but refuses to blame his low position on his schedule. 'I know I would have a lot more points if I'd played more,' he said, 'but it's only my putting that has let me down.'

Woosnam, however, has not won a tournament since the Monte Carlo Open in July last year. But in his nine European events this year he has not missed a cut.

Sandy Lyle, even more than Woosnam, needs to repeat his Munich victory of two years ago to boost his Ryder Cup chances. He has played in only seven events this year, missed the cut in three of them and is currently 21st in the cup points table.

He shot 69 in the pro-am yesterday and, like Woosnam, says his putting needs to improve. 'My putting has been a nightmare and I've not been holing anything for months,' he said. Yesterday gave some encouragement: he used a broomstick putter and holed a 40-foot putt for an eagle three at the 565-yard 18th.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ CARD OF THE COURSE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hole Yards Par Hole Yards Par 1st 438 4 10th 471 4 2nd 216 3 11th 532 5 3rd 425 4 12th 159 3 4th 359 4 13th 375 4 5th 327 4 14th 437 4 6th 482 5 15th 401 4 7th 444 4 16th 334 4 8th 207 3 17th 191 3 9th 547 5 18th 565 5 Out: 3,445 36 In: 3,465 36 Total: 6,910 72 ------------------------------------------------------------------------