Colin Montgomerie's bid to earn a Ryder Cup berth was hit by a quadruple bogey nine in the third round of the USPGA. Having just made the cut at one over, the Scot needed to make a big move on Saturday to boost his hopes of lining up at Oakland Hills in September.
But after four pars the 41-year-old's round fell apart when he found water, then sand and then rough at the fifth, before three-putting to make it a nine.
Three more bogeys and a birdie followed, leaving him on seven over.
Montgomerie will now almost certainly have to rely on getting one of Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer's two wild card selections.
But the German, who carded a disappointing 75 on Saturday to fall out of contention at Whistling Straits, said: "There are a lot of the guys playing well and I'd much rather have that than nobody.
 |  One bad shot and there has to be a lake in the way - it's amazing |
"The bad thing is that I'm going to have some disappointed ones who don't make it, but it's the same race for everybody - they all had 12 months to qualify. "If you are not in the top 10 there are no guarantees. All I can tell you is that I have not made up my mind."
Montgomerie has to climb from 21st to 10th in the standings to be an automatic selection and there are only two more counting events to come.
On his nine he said: "It knocked the wind out of me - it really hurt. I hit the drive 15 yards right of where I was aiming.
"One bad shot and there has to be a lake in the way. It's amazing. But never mind, I'll try again tomorrow.
"There's nothing wrong with my game. A couple of shots get away here and you run up a high number."
Firestone return
Among the other European Ryder Cup hopefuls, David Howell, currently eighth, carded a 70 playing alongside Langer and with a round to play stood at two under.
One shot further back is Ian Poulter, ninth in the Ryder Cup standings. The Englishman also shot 70, but was looking for better than that.
The 28-year-old is 61st in the world rankings and probably needs a top-10 finish here to climb into the top 50 and therefore qualify for next week's NEC Invitational at Firestone.
"I probably need six under in the final round now," said Poulter. "But I'm not going to hang around for the last man to finish - I'm booked on a flight home and hopefully I'll get off the other end and come all the way back.
"That's not a problem. I sleep very well in first-class!"
MMIX
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