Ryder Cup - Monty eyes Ryder wild card

Eurosport - Wed, 27 Aug 16:23:00 2008

Colin Montgomerie is determined to come up with his first win of the year to help him land one of European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo's two wild cards.

GOLF Colin Montgomerie 2007 - 0

Faldo makes his two choices on Sunday, after Europe's top-10 automatic qualifiers have been decided at the close of the Johnnie Walker Championship which starts on Thursday.

Montgomerie took the last two weeks off, making it impossible to qualify by right for the team, so he has to rely on his admirable past record in eight matches.

However, the 45-year, eight-times European number one knows a victory this week might tip the balance on his selection.

"I have no idea how he (Faldo) feels I have to perform this week," Montgomerie said. "But hopefully I'm past the stage of justifying my Ryder Cup potential.

"My game two weeks ago was poor in America and I took a couple of weeks off, the second week I've been practising up here at Gleneagles every day. I feel very confident now in trying to win this event.

Montgomerie said that, for the first time, he was using "fancy technical stuff" on the practice range to help him drive further.

"This course has five par-fives and they are our scoring holes. With four of them reachable (in two shots) for the longer hitters, I feel I'm going to have to be slightly more aggressive to win here than is normal.

"I'm looking for another 20 yards off the tee, I think I've got 15 yards of it so I'm still five short."

Montgomerie is in the mix for a wild card with several others. Fellow Britons Paul Casey and last week's Dutch Open winner Darren Clarke look like being his chief rivals.

The Cup match against the United States takes place at Valhalla, Kentucky, from September 19-21.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 8 of 8

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  1. Monty is like a vintage bottle of wine that needed to be opened about a year ago, a legend in his Ryder Cup life, I think that his past play should be respected and admired as a true great, but just like Faldo did he should make way with honour to the younger guns....European golf is at its best which makes it harder for the older guys....Monty should not be allowed to tarnish his reputation and should step aside and wait his captaincy...

    From gwicks43@..., on Fri 29 Aug 10:33PM

  2. Dream on Monty. You are well past your sell by date, and the most miserable, bad tempered golfer on the planet. Darren Clarke must play on his recent form and I think Ross Fisher dererves a pick.

    From kestephenson@..., on Fri 29 Aug 11:27AM

  3. marksakowski - you are an insulting turd! He might not be good enough anymore but he has been brilliant for the past eight Ryder Cups and does not deserve comments from a prat like you

    From domani, on Fri 29 Aug 11:26AM

  4. not good enough now

    From GEOFFREY T, on Thu 28 Aug 10:14PM

  5. Monty would be a great vice captain but dead weight as a player at the moment. Sadly his form is poor and his confidence so low that past exploits in the matches will be of no use.Time to call it a day!

    From johnthoward2002, on Thu 28 Aug 9:14PM

  6. You can't include players just on their past reputations otherwise Jack Nicholas would be in the American team. Monty's well past his sell buy date now. Darren Clarke is a must and has his present form to support him

    From Ron, on Thu 28 Aug 9:56AM

  7. It is not so long ago when he won the world cup in china when he was in the middle of a so called slump

    From sneddon43, on Thu 28 Aug 8:53AM

  8. Monty has lost his psychological edge a long ago and now readily folds under pressure. Has he ever had it?
    He could be good for the team as a caddy only.

    From Mark, on Wed 27 Aug 11:13PM
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