LONDON // Ian Poulter was a shock withdrawal from this week's Johnnie Walker Championship on Monday night, leaving his Ryder Cup fate in the hands of captain Nick Faldo.
The Open runner-up still had a chance to qualify automatically with a top-five finish at Gleneagles in the final counting event, but has decided instead to stay in America and compete in the FedEx Cup play-offs.
Poulter's only way to a second cap now is to be handed one of Faldo's two wild cards, but yesterday's KLM Open winner Darren Clarke, Paul Casey and Colin Montgomerie are also looking for that route into the team.
"It has been an extremely difficult decision to take given my desire to represent Europe again in defending the Ryder Cup in the United States," said Poulter.
"But the fact that Boston this week is my only opportunity to qualify for the final two play-off events as well as being my final opportunity to play my 15 events on the US PGA Tour conflicts with my ambition to play Gleneagles and earn my spot in the team.
"I have called Nick Faldo and told him of my decision and hope that my performance so far this year will earn one of his two wild-card picks.
"The captain's picks are a nightmare and not a position I would have wanted, but we do know that Nick will do the right thing and I will be playing as hard as I can this week to add to my year and hopefully earn one."
The trouble for Poulter is that the Deutsche Bank Championship runs from Friday to Monday, and Faldo's two wild cards are being announced on Sunday night.
The impact of his move is that six players rather than seven are now competing for the last three automatic spots on the line-up for Valhalla next month.
Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson are the three players in positions eight, nine and 10 at present, but Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty are still able to catch them.
To have a chance of making the side Dougherty has to finish second, Fisher third and Kaymer 28th. Poulter's decision is certainly a big boost for his close friend Rose.
Rose will only miss out if three players go past him and to be one of the three, Dougherty has to win; Fisher must come first or second, Kaymer in the top five, Wilson in the top seven and Hansen in the top 28. What Faldo's thinking remains to be seen, but Poulter has failed to do what Padraig Harrington thought he would.
It is only a month ago that Harrington stated he wanted Montgomerie as his Ryder Cup partner again and that he thought it was "inevitable" Poulter would play his way onto the team.
Harrington said of Poulter's challenge to him at Royal Birkdale: "He's shown he is a big-time player and that's the type you want in the Ryder Cup."
* PA Sport
SQUADS
South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
