Olazabal is left needing Daly to self-destruct

John Daly's newest fan is none other than Pontypridd's Phillip Price. The further Daly went ahead of the field at the BMW International, the better for Price, who remains the favourite to secure the last automatic Ryder Cup place for the European team, despite missing the cut at Nord Eichenreid.

This was hardly a typical day. Daly has addictions to alcohol, gambling, chocolate and that column on the statistics headed "double bogeys and worse". Now he prefers fairways, greens in regulations and birdies. He also had two eagles in a 64, which, following a 63 the day before, left him at 17-under, four clear of Adam Scott.

Daly has not won for six years but if he can avoid an implosion over the weekend he could seriously damage the Ryder Cup chances of Jose Maria Olazabal. Five behind in third place, Olazabal needs to win to grab the 10th place on the Ryder Cup list from Price. Olazabal had an albatross and holed twice from off the green in a 62 to match the course record.

Strangely, Olazabal's major problem of late has been not his driving but his putting. This he cut out altogether at the par-five 11th, where his one-iron from 235 yards bounced four times and then ran into the cup. His shot had to share top billing as the best of the day with a six-iron hole-in-one from Raphael Jacquelin at the 17th hole, which earned the Frenchman an BMW Z8 sports car.

"That is the first albatross of my life," said Olazabal, who celebrated with a little disco dance with his caddie, Phil "Wobbly" Morbey. "All of a sudden everything changed. I stood on the next tee thinking 'birdie'." With Sam Torrance's wild cards almost certain to go to Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik, Ollie's vast Ryder Cup experience looks like being wasted.

"I am not thinking about that," he said. "I know what I have to do. It is simple, I have to win. I would love to play in the team but I understand it is a tough issue. If I can play well this weekend at least that will cheer me up. I have been fed up with how I have been playing." Price's missed cut simplifies the qualifying scenario and ensured that Paul McGinley and Bernhard Langer, eighth and ninth on the list respectively, are definitely in.

With Price's nearest challengers, Ian Poulter and Miguel Angel Jimenez, also missing the cut, there are only 10 other contenders left and each has to finish at least second or first.

Price birdied the last to get to three-under but that proved one shot too many. Jimenez finished at the same score while Poulter's 71 left him at level. Poulter, who was troubled by a pain under his collar bone, was the rookie of the year last season and the 25-year-old should feature in future matches.

"If I remain 11th it will be majorly disappointing but I'll have given it a good shout and come up just short," Poulter said. "Hopefully, if I keep progressing as I have throughout my career, bigger doors will open up."

Price has played each of the last five weeks, including two tournaments in America, and nine of the last 10. As he slipped down the list, however, he needed to keep playing. "I wish I could feel the pressure but I can't feel anything," he said. "I am numb. I am absolutely frazzled. It has been a busy schedule over the last two months and I am worn out. I felt like walking off the course after nine holes yesterday."

The Welshman will not play next week but this weekend will hardly be the relaxing variety. "I am not even going to try and relax," he said. "I know I'll be thinking about it but I am not going to watch it on the TV. I am just going do something else, perhaps some retail therapy." Price slipped into the hot seat at No 10 when McGinley won the Wales Open three weeks ago. The Irishman has positively thrived on the pressure and scored a 66 to avoid any chance of missing the cut. "It was important for me to make the team on a positive note and not to rely on bad things for other people," the Irishman said. "I have really enjoyed the pressure of trying to make the team and feel I deserve my place."

BMW INTERNATIONAL (Munich) Leading second-round scores (GB or Irl unless stated): 127 J Daly (US) 63 64. 131 A Scott (Aus) 67 64. 132 R Green (Aus) 63 69; T Bjorn (Den) 65 67; P Harrington 69 63; JM Olazabal (Sp) 70 62. 133 D Robertson 64 69. 134 R Russell 68 66; F Jacobson (Swe) 68 66; M Farry (Fra) 67 67; S Garcia (Sp) 67 67. 135 J Senden (Aus) 68 67; J Bickerton 67 68; S Kjeldsen (Den) 65 70; C Pettersson (Swe) 66 69; A Cejka (Ger) 69 66; R Gonzalez (Arg) 67 68; D Carter 69 66; R Jacquelin (Fr) 68 67. 136 M Mouland 68 68; B Rumford (Aus) 68 68; B Davis 68 68; P McGinley 70 66; B Langer (Ger) 67 69; P Casey 69 67; G Owen 69 67; J Berendt (Arg) 69 67; R Wessels (Rsa) 66 70; I Woosnam 69 67; A Oldcorn 67 69; T Levet (Fra) 70 66; J Rose 67 69; A Forsyth 68 66; C Hanell (Swe) 71 65. Selected: 137 G Orr 68 69. 138 C Montgomerie 69 69; R Karlsson (Swe) 70 68. Missed the cut: 141 P Price 71 70. 144 M Gronberg (Swe) 74 70.