Europe's Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will have an extra wild card for next year's clash at Celtic Manor in Wales.

The European Tour players' committee agreed in Ireland last night to increase the number to three but they would not grant the Scot the four he wanted.

There was the fear that matching America's four could see the star players skip some European Tour events, in the knowledge they still had a good chance of being selected.

Five of Montgomerie's side will still be selected off the circuit's Order of Merit but, to cater for the extra captain's pick, only four automatic qualifiers will be based on world ranking points.

After losing three games in a row, Paul Azinger sought and was granted a doubling in America's two wild cards. It worked a treat, with the United States winning back the trophy by five points.

England's Oliver Wilson would have been the player to miss out on automatic qualification if the new system had been in operation last year.

Then captain Nick Faldo handed his wild cards to Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, even though neither returned to Europe from the States in the final month of qualifying.