Poulter snubbed the final qualifying event at Gleneagles to play in the $10m FedEx Cup series when he could still have played his way into Nick Faldo’s team.

Can Colin Montgomery keep control or will player power dictate?

Harrington faces a similarly embarrassing situation as he skips the Johnnie Walker Championship for the Barclays in two weeks and could need one of Colin Montgomerie’s wildcards.

But with Justin Rose and Paul Casey also opting to remain in the US, Clarke reckons that Harrington will not become the centre of a storm of protest.

Hinting at safety in numbers for the Dubliner, Clarke said: “Padraig is a world class player. He’s obviously just got a bit of a tough run, but he is playing really well. We’ll see. I can’t say.

“It’s up to Monty to decide what he thinks is best. But I don’t think the guys skipping Gleneagles will really influence him too much.

“I don’t think this is quite the same as (Poulter) two years ago. Why? Well, there is three of them.”

Clarke’s hopes of making the Ryder Cup team as a player ended when he took 34 putts in a closing 73 to finish well down the field on one-over par.

As a result, he will pull out of the this week’s Czech Open to spend time with his two sons before turning up at Gleneagles for Montgomerie’s wild card announcement.

Frustrated on the greens once more, Clarke said: “I’ve hit the ball really really well but I just lost my patience completely on the greens.

“I tried my best and I’ll just take couple of weeks off now. Tyrone and Conor are starting school and we are moving house.

“Obviously things have not gone the way I wanted this week so I’m going to take a little bit of time off and put the family first.”

Clarke added that he still has a lot of goals to aim for this season with places in next year’s majors up for grabs through the Race to Dubai rankings.

He said: “I want to try and get as far up the money list as I can to get into the Open, the US Open, all of that. I’m very happy with the way I’m playing.”

The Scot got wanted three picks instead of two and got the decision he wanted after a marathon three-hour meeting of the Tournament Players Committee at Irish Open venue Baltray.

Colin Montgomerie is strapped in for the Ryder Cup

Five players will still qualify from the European Points List but Montgomerie believes he will have a stronger side to take on Corey Pavin’s United States 12-man team with three wild cards instead of two.

Montgomerie said: “We want to have the strongest team possible and that’s what we are trying to achieve and hopefully we have put one foot towards that tonight.

“I am leaving the meeting delighted that I have one more option. It is a stronger hand picked team but it is a stronger tour as well.

“This European Tour is gaining in strength in strength all the time and we have stronger players in depth than ever before but I am leaving this meeting very confident and very happy that I have got what I was looking for, which was one more option and that is what I have right now.”

Committee member Paul McGinley would not reveal if a vote had been taken.

He said: “It was a great meeting with a lot of strong personalities. There were a lot of current and past Ryder Cup players there and I think the right decision was made.”

The European Tour issued the following statement after the meeting:

“After discussion with Europe’s 2010 Captain, Colin Montgomerie, it was decided that the leading four players from The Ryder Cup World Points List would be joined by the leading five players, not otherwise qualified (having selected the four players from The Ryder Cup World Points List) from The Ryder Cup European Points List in automatically qualifying for Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup Team at the end of the qualification period.

“Those nine players will then be joined by three Captain’s Picks to make up the 12-man Team to take on the USA over The Twenty Ten Course at The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales, from October 1-3, 2010.”