I'm in Cologne this week for the German Masters - the last tournament before the cut-off point for the Seve Trophy.

Things didn't really go to plan in the last two rounds in Switzer-land, so I'm probably going to have to finish in the top three in Germany to have a chance of making it automatically.

If I don't do that, I'll have to hope for a wild card from Colin Montgomerie. I'd like to think that might be a possibility, but I don't hold out a lot of hope. I think Paul Casey already has that place sewn up and, if that's the case, good luck to him.

I've had a chat with Colin whenever I've bumped into him this year and I'm sure I'll have one last word in his ear this week, but I think his mind is made up.

I would have liked to have played in the trophy because it's on my home course and it would have given me a chance to play in front of the North-East fans.

But if it isn't to be, it isn't to be. I wanted to qualify for the tournament outright and, if that doesn't happen, I can't really have any complaints about not being in it.

Things might have been different if I'd managed a stronger finish last weekend. I played really nicely to shoot a 65 on Friday, but then my putting fell away on the last two days.

I took 36 putts on the Saturday and didn't do much better than that 24 hours later. You're never going to be competitive if you're putting like that.

It's definitely a concern and I'm even thinking of trying to get my hands on a new putter before the start of things here. It's a bit of a last resort, but it might have to come to that.

The rest of my game is in pretty good shape, so it's doubly frustrating when the putts just aren't dropping.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind week because I flew back to Hartlepool from Switzerland on Sunday night then flew back out of Newcastle to Cologne yesterday morning.

Some of the players went straight to Germany from Switzerland, but I had a few things to sort out in my new house so I decided to pop home.

It meant a bit more flying, but sometimes I think it's nice to get back into your own surroundings and switch off - even if it is just for a day.

I played on the Gut Larchenhof course out here yesterday afternoon and they seem to have done a pretty good job in terms of setting it up.

I think it'll play to my strengths and hopefully the putts will start dropping as well this weekend.

Published: 07/09/05