"I have to say I was quite surprised myself"

Lawrence Donegan talks to Darren Clarke about his Ryder Cup selection snub:

"Half of the guys have been in touch over the last day to say how disappointed they are for me, and to say how surprised they are that I won't be going with them," the Northern Irishman said last night. "I have to say I was quite surprised myself."

Update on 2008-09-02 04:18 by Geoff

In Mark Lamport-Stokes' story talking to players about the Clarke exclusion, including not so positive remarks from Sergio Garcia, he points out a strong point from John Hopkins' report about the biggest snub in all of this, that of Carl Pettersson.

Poulter’s inclusion is not the only talking point. Pettersson’s exclusion deserves to be examined closely, too. In one way it is a sign of the strength of Europe’s professional golfers that a Swede, who has won three tournaments in the US in the past four years, can be excluded. Yet there is an unpleasant whiff of xenophobia about it. If Pettersson were British, he would be a nailed-down certainty to be included.