Colin Montgomerie insists his desire to play in next month's Ryder Cup is "greater than ever", despite a recent poor run of form.

The Scot will not be one of the 10 automatic qualifiers for Nick Faldo's European team after deciding not to play in Sweden this week or Holland the following week.

Instead, Montgomerie will require one of captain Nick Faldo's two wild cards if he is to make a ninth appearance at the biennial event - and with it the opportunity to overtake Faldo as Europe's all-time leading point scorer.

Faldo names his two selections after the European Tour's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on August 28-31, an event where Montgomerie is tournament chairman.

"I decided to take these two weeks off from tournament golf as, with automatic qualification now out of the question, I thought it very important to put in some serious practice time so I am ready to perform to the best of my ability should I come into the reckoning for a captain's selection," Montgomerie wrote on his official website.

"My desire to play in the Ryder Cup is greater than ever - as I have shown in the past and in my schedule which has been geared towards qualifying - but I want now to work on my game to compete as well as I can in Scotland and to have my game to a standard that would allow me, hopefully, to perform at a level to help the team (if I am part of it) to the requisite 14 and a half points.

"After these few days with my wife and family I am ready to get down to some serious hard work at Gleneagles, which is no more than 10 minutes from home, so some long hours can easily be put in.

"Hopefully, the crowds will inspire me to a great week. It will be a really strong tournament with so many European players in the field battling to improve their positions on the European Ryder Cup rankings in the final qualifying event."