Keegan Bradley has expressed his disappointment at missing out on a place in the US Presidents Cup team.
The 25-year-old has enjoyed a memorable rookie season on the PGA Tour this year, following a debut win at the Byron Nelson in May with a maiden major triumph at USPGA Championship after a thrilling final round tussle with Jason Dufner.
With a total of four top-10s to his credit, many thought he would have done enough to secure a spot in Fred Couples' US team to face an International side in Australia in November.
However, despite his outstanding form, Bradley was overlooked by Couples who instead gave his two captain's picks to FedEx Cup winner Bill Haas and former world number one Tiger Woods.
A magnanimous Bradley took to Twitter after the news, stating: "Congrats to bill haas / @tigerwoods. They deserve the picks. Although I'm very disappointed, I'm very happy to have been considered. GO USA"
Explanation
Having already committed himself to offering one of his picks to Woods, Couples explained his decision to opt for Haas over Bradley.
"It just felt like in this instance, Bill Haas has played two years, never been outside the top 12 position (in the Presidents Cup rankings)," the US skipper said.
"He's been inside the top 10 most of the time. And you know, if Keegan would have finished fourth or fifth last week and Bill would have lost to Hunter Mahan, the others assistants will tell you that Keegan would have been chosen."
Couples went on to reveal that he had spoken to Bradley for 45 minutes as he gave him news of his decision and revealed that he could yet feature in the match.
With Steve Stricker still troubled by an arm injury that saw him pull out of the BMW Championship earlier in the month, Couples confirmed that Bradley would take his place should Stricker be unable to compete.
Meanwhile, Stricker was due to go for an MRI scan on Tuesday to confirm the extent of his injury.
But while the pick of Haas is entirely justifiable after his huge victory at East Lake last weekend, many feel that ignoring the claims of Bradley in favour of an ailing Woods has left Couples open to criticism.
Scrutiny on Woods
Woods had been sidelined for much of the season by an injury to his left knee and Achilles tendon that forced him to withdraw from the Players Championship in May.
He returned to competition in August, finishing in a tie for 37th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and subsequently missed the cut at the USPGA Championship in Atlanta.
Having failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup play-offs, the 35-year-old has entered next week's Frys.com Open in California and will also play the Australian Open as a tune-up prior to the Presidents Cup.
There will be plenty of scrutiny and pressure on Woods to justify Couples' faith in him, but the 14-time major winner feels confident he now is on the road back to his best form.
"We're practicing very hard and I'm playing as much as I possibly can, something that I hadn't not done all summer, because I hadn't been cleared to do it," Woods explained.
"Now I have the clearance to do that. My training sessions are great. Strength has come back. My explosiveness has come back through my training, and now just trying to get my feel back, and it feels great."