"Apparently, neither was enough to satisfy his sizeable ego, the pattern obvious: not playing + not winning = not happy, playing and winning = happy."

John Huggan analyzes the possibility of a last-minute Paul Casey pick to replace Lee Westwood and the reasons why Casey was not selected by Monty the first time around.

So does Casey have a right to be upset? Yes, he does. And is he upset? Yes, he is, judging by the flurry of indignant e-mails this correspondent (and others) have received from his coach, CBS commentator Peter Kostis. But, as ever (apart from the mysterious case of Miss Stewart), there are two sides to even the most open-and-shut selection

Part of any successful team in golf or any other sport is chemistry. However talented the resulting cast of characters may be individually, they must be able to play together, even in golf, the loneliest of games. Discord can play havoc with potential success; the gifted but ultimately World Cup-less Dutch football teams of the 1970s spring immediately to mind, as does the soundly defeated 2008 European Ryder Cup side, one divided by the inability of Harrington and Sergio Garcia to co-exist in any kind of civil fashion.

Similarly, tales of acrimony have followed two of Casey's three Ryder Cup appearances. Speaking off the record, at least two of his team-mates in the 2004 matches at Oakland Hills recall mildly pathetic episodes of childish behaviour provoked by the then debutant's inability to cope with being left out of a series of matches. "Paul's toys were forever being thrown from his pram," says one. "He was such a baby."

Not much changed in 2008. In the aftermath of the Valhalla loss, Casey was forced to fend off rumours that he was headed for the door mid-match, so perturbed had he supposedly been by what he saw as skipper Nick Faldo's erratic method of selection. He can be a happy camper too, though. In 2006 at the K Club Casey emerged unbeaten from four matches, made a memorable hole-in-one to seal one of those victories and was reportedly in fine fettle throughout. In contrast, he played only twice two years earlier and in 2008, but three times. Apparently, neither was enough to satisfy his sizeable ego, the pattern obvious: not playing + not winning = not happy, playing and winning = happy.

Now, if I'm a Captain, isn't that what I want in a player? Someone who is only happy when he's playing and winning?