Darren Clarke has made himself available for selection in Europe's Ryder Cup team having asked captain Ian Woosnam to consider him for a wild card pick for next month's contest at the K Club.

Clarke has not played since the Open Championship at Hoylake in order to be with his seriously ill wife Heather, who subsequently passed away on August 13th.

That meant the Tyrone golfer did not qualify automatically for the team but he could yet make a surprise appearance in Co Kildare from September 22nd-24th.

A spokesman for Clarke's management company ISM confirmed Clarke's decision: "Darren would like to be considered for a wild card and would obviously like to play if selected, and he has told Ian Woosnam this.

"Woosie is aware that Darren would like to be considered. Of course he will abide by any decision taken."

Clarke boasts a fine record in the Ryder Cup - he has been on the winning side three times in his previous four appearances - and will be a hot favourite for one of Woosnam's two 'picks', which will be handed out on Sunday after Europe's automatic top 10 places are decided.

Clarke has yet to return to golf, but it is thought that if he does feel ready to play again and is picked by Woosnam after the BMW International Open on Sunday night he would enter the Madrid Masters in a fortnight.

"He feels if he is picked, he needs a competitive week," the ISM spokesman added.

Clarke, who has not been able to challenge for an automatic place because of taking so much time off through his wife's lengthy illness, has to commit to the Madrid Masters by this Friday.

Woosnam, asked today if Clarke would be considered, replied: "All I've heard is that Darren is available to play in the Ryder Cup. It is a possibility. He is a possible, yes."

Before announcing his two wild cards, of course, Woosnam needs to know who are the 10 to qualify automatically.

Seven are now certain - Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey, David Howell, uncapped Swedes Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson and also Luke Donald, whom Woosnam will try to get to know better this week after being granted his request to play with him in the first two rounds.

Jose Maria Olazabal and Dubliners Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley - desperate, of course, to play in the first-ever match on Irish soil - are in position to join them with four rounds left, but Paul Broadhurst, Johan Edfors, John Bickerton and Thomas Bjorn could yet climb into the top 10.