Underqualified

After the U.S. lost five of the last six Ryder Cups, captain Paul Azinger concocted a new selection system, but will it come back to bite him? Azinger's system is pegged to money earned, a more complete reflection of a player's body of work than the old matrix, which only awarded points for top 10 finishes, disproportionately rewarding a few hot weeks. But Azinger now faces the possibility that a fluky PGA Championship winner could bum-rush his way onto the squad. The majors confer double points, and at the end of the PGA, the players second through ninth in the standings are automatically on the team. (No. 1 Tiger Woods is out.) The current No. 9, Steve Stricker, has 2,603.171 points. The winner of the PGA will earn 2,520 (based on the 2007 purse), meaning that players as far down as No. 120 Shawn Micheel (257.018) have a shot. (Nos. 121 through 146 are alive mathematically but not in the field.) Let the second-guessing begin.