Golf: Rhys Davies gives Colin Montgomerie Ryder Cup nudge

WELSHMAN Rhys Davies headed back to South Wales last night having given European captain Colin Montgomerie a timely nudge for October’s Ryder Cup in an epic Madrid Masters battle with Luke Donald at Real Sociedad Golf Club.
Though the Bridgend-based European Tour rookie still has a mountain to climb to make Monty’s Ryder Cup team, Davies has qualified for June’s US Open at Pebble Beach and the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews the following month with massive prize funds on offer.
Davies and Donald are all set to slug it out again this week when the duo headlines the Wales Open at the Celtic Manor.
And Hassan Trophy winner Davies has assured Welsh golf fans he’ll be going flat out to better his runner-up spot in Madrid.
“I’m having a couple of days off to recharge myself so I can go into the Wales Open feeling confident.
“I am in a position where I was selected as captain by the European Tour to try to win back the Ryder Cup. In these economic times it is very important for everybody that we do that.”
“I’m going to the Celtic Manor thinking I can win and my approach will be no different.
“In the past some captains have played up the underdog role, but I don’t have that advantage this time,” he said. “Because we are doing so well in the world rankings and playing at home we do start as favourites. I can’t deny that, and nor do I want to. We need to justify that favouritism by winning.
“If we don’t, and that means I’m the fall guy, I’ll take that. I will take every up and down that this captaincy gives. That’s why I’m in this position and enjoying it.”
Montgomerie reiterated his hope that Tiger Woods would have overcome his personal difficulties by the time the Ryder Cup 2010 is played in Newport. “We all hope he does play,” said Montgomerie. “It will be a bigger and better event if he does.”
“It will be even more special being backed home in a Wales. Hopefully I can perform well, my game feels good and hopefully I can go one better than Madrid.”
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Montgomerie to offer Faldo a truce in bid to learn Ryder Cup lessons

DESPITE the sour rel-ationship between the two men, Colin Montgomerie says he intends to seek advice from Nick Faldo ahead of this year’s Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.
The two heavyweights of British golf have been trading punches for almost three years, but now Monty has signalled he would like a truce. Whether his offer is taken up by Faldo remains to be seen.
Montgomerie wants to speak to the last four Ryder Cup captains to see what he can learn from them, and will have no problems with Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam. The Ryder Cup 2010 captain played under all three, contributing hugely to their victories, and in any event enjoys good relations with them.
That is not the case with Faldo, who not only failed to give the Scot a wild card pick ahead of the defeat at Valhalla two years ago but made no effort to spare his feelings. The two men had fallen out publicly a year earlier when Faldo criticised Montgomerie for effectively not acting like a good team player under him in the 2007 Seve Trophy, when Great Britain and Ireland played continental Europe.
That criticism was regarded as ironic given Montgomerie’s selfless contribution to the Ryder Cup cause and Faldo’s reputation for putting his own interests first throughout his career in golf.
It was this trait which many predicted would make Faldo an unsuccessful Ryder Cup captain, even if his fabulous
playing record, which included winning six Majors, meant he could not be overlooked for the honour.
In the event, Europe were trounced at Valhalla and Faldo’s performance as captain – which plumbed the depths at the opening ceremony during which he embarrassed some of his own players – was roundly criticised. Despite all this, Montgomerie made it clear at Gleneagles on Thursday that he wanted to learn from the American-based Faldo.
“I will be talking to Nick,” he said. “He will be over at the Open Championship in St Andrews commentating for television, so that will be an opportunity.
“I’m not doing it because I have to, but because I want to. Sam, Bernhard and Ian were all winning captains, but sometimes you can learn more from a defeat than you can from a win. If Nick can sit down with me, and we can talk openly and honestly about what he would have done differently in hindsight, we can learn from that for the sake of the European Tour.
Montgomerie may be offering a truce, but, in an encouraging sign for his captaincy at Celtic Manor in October, it is a shrewd gesture which leaves him in a win-win situation whatever happens. Even as he was holding out the olive branch he was
insinuating that Europe, 
under Faldo, had allowed America to gain confidence and momentum too readily in Valhalla.
If the Englishman turns down the chance for a chat, he will be perceived as snubbing not just Montgomerie but the European Tour – and even jeopardising the financial windfall which would accrue from regaining the Ryder Cup from the Americans.
On the other hand if Faldo plays ball, and talks “openly and honestly”, he will have to own up to his shortcomings at Valhalla and admit he could have handled some aspects differently. As Faldo is not a man who does confessionals willingly, that would be a difficult conversation for him. Whatever the outcome, he will not now be able to point at Montgomerie, in the event of a European defeat, and say, “Well, he should have asked me”.
Montgomerie was at 
Gleneagles to promote the Johnnie Walker Championship which will be the last ranking event before the selection of this year’s Ryder Cup side. When the last putt has been sunk on the PGA Centenary Course on August 29, Montgomerie will nominate his three wild card picks for Celtic Manor.
He acknowledged that whoever he selects, Europe will, unusually, go into the match as strong favourites.
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Colin Montgomerie: I’ll talk to Nick Faldo about Ryder Cup as you can sometimes learn more from a defeat

COLIN MONTGOMERIE has revealed he’ll pick flop Ryder Cup 2010 Captain Sir Nick Faldo’s brains this summer to learn from his failure.
Speaking at Gleneagles this week in his role as chairman of the Johnnie Walker Championship – the final qualifying event for this year’s Ryder Cup – Monty told MailSport: "I WILL be talking to Nick. He’s over for the Open Championship as a commentator.
"I’ll be talking to him, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance – the past four captains.
"It’s only right to learn from their experiences. I thought Sam was brilliant, not because he was Scottish, simply because he was.
"America sent over a much stronger team than we had in 2002 yet we won. How he got the four rookies through undefeated in the singles, how he made them believe they were part of it, that’s why we won.
"Bernhard and Ian Woosnam had so-called easier tasks because Europe were becoming stronger. And then of course you can learn from defeat, sometimes more than you do if you won.
"Learning from certain aspects of what Nick did, if he can sit down with me and we can talk openly and honestly about what he’d have done different in hindsight, we can learn from that for the sake of the European Tour."
Faldo blundered his way through to a disastrous five-point defeat to Paul Azinger’s Americans in Kentucky in 2008 – all the way from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony.
At one point the Englishman crudely stereotyped Padraig Harrington by saying he had been "hitting more balls than potatoes have been dug in his homeland".
He also didn’t know which part of Ireland Graeme McDowell came from and then he told the world to "bring their waterproofs" for the next Ryder Cup when the Welsh tourist board had been trying to promote Celtic Manor all week.
And his decision to backload the singles draw with his star men on the Sunday proved the biggest disaster of the lot as he left Lee Westwood, Harrington and Ian Poulter all playing dead rubbers with the cup already lost.
Even some of his off-course activities left the players baffled, like borrowing two drum kits from Iron Maiden legend Nicko McBrain for the team room.
Monty, in his ever-acerbic style, said: "I have ideas about entertainment for the troops in the evening – but, ah, it won’t be drums…
"It’s an important relationship and I’ll make sure they’re fully involved. So they will be part of it and we’ll have some fun. It’ll be enjoyable because if you enjoy what you do you’re usually good at it."
One thing Monty doesn’t have going for him this time out is the siege mentality that comes with being an underdog.
He has seven of the world’s top 15, compared with the USA’s five right now, and he said: "I don’t have the advantage of playing up to the underdog role like some have had before me.
"The rankings, the talent, being the home side, the fact we are undefeated here since 1993, I can’t deny we’re favourites and I don’t want to. I want to prove why we are and win it.
"I don’t feel pressure. If I was sitting on a team less talented, maybe, but the talent we have is second to none. There’ll be no motivation required, they all want to be there and all of that takes the pressure away from me."

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Ryder Cup 2010: Colin Montgomerie to pick Nick Faldo’s brains

Colin Montgomerie has agreed to a sit down with Nick Faldo in the hope of learning from the mistakes of the unsuccessful 2008 European Ryder Cup team.
Given the history between the two men, one expects it could be something of a nose-holding exercise, but Montgomerie is adamant that he will leave no stone unturned in his prepatations for recapturing the trophy this October.
The European captain will meet his predecessor at Pebble Beach, where Faldo will be commentating on the US Open, to discuss what lessons can be learnt from the European defeat at Valhalla two years ago – provided, of course, that the pair can put their personal history behind them and Faldo feels comfortable to talk candidly about the failings of his side. After all, Montgomerie purred, it would be for the good of the European Tour.
"I will be talking to Nick," he said. "I will be talking to Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance. They are the last four captains. I’ll be talking to every one of them. Not because I have to, but because I want to. It is only right that you can learn from their experiences. Sam was a brilliant captain. America sent over a much stronger team than he had in 2002 and yet we won … because the four rookies in the singles never lost. How he got those rookies to believe that they were part of the team, to go out there believing in themselves – that is what I have to find out from Sam. What he said at the time or what was done.
"And, of course, you can learn from defeat – sometimes more than you do from a win. Learning from certain aspects of Nick, if he can sit down with me and talk openly and honestly about what he might have done differently in hindsight, then we can learn from it for the sake of the European Tour. There is a big opportunity here. I will definitely see him there."
Whether Faldo will be able to swallow his pride and admit to his shortcomings, especially in front of Montgomerie, is a moot point. And whether Monty listens is another: he has already dismissed one of the team-bonding tools of the Faldo regime, a set of drums in the team room, in favour of a more sober approach. He said, for example, that one thing he hopes to achieve this year is including the players’ caddies so that they feel more of the team.
"We will do things, but it won’t be drums," he said. "I’m going to involve the caddies a lot more than ever before. In this tournament, I’ve found, the caddies play a very important role. There are 24 of them out there, not just 12. I am going to involve them in our team, more than I have witnessed before."
He will also, no doubt, be intrigued to learn what was said and done in the wake of Bo Weekly’s exuberant celebrations when partnering Oliver Wilson, and why the Americans were allowed to impose themselves, mentally, so easily.
"The crowd reacted to them and they reacted to them," Montgomerie explained. "Bo is a great guy, his first time in that atmosphere and, hey, he did something and the crowd enjoyed it. I’m rather glad that Oliver Wilson didn’t, because he was walking ahead and didn’t see. So it was OK."
It is unlikely, given that the Cup will be played on home turf, at Celtic Manor, that anything similar would happen this time around. But as Montgomerie said, the European side must ensure the opportunity does not arise. "It comes with momentum, and it is our job to prevent that from happening."

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Captain Colin Montgomerie dealt Wales Ryder Cup blow

European skipper Colin Montgomerie has been dealt a blow as another potential Ryder Cup player will miss next week’s Wales Open on 2010 show’s host course.
Robert Karlsson has followed Padraig Harrington and withdrawn from the event on the Celtic Manor’s Twenty Ten course that will stage October’s Ryder Cup 2010.
Europe’s top four Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy will also be absent at the Wales Open.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia is another who will miss the Newport showpiece next week, despite Montgomerie’s wish for contenders to learn more about the course where the United States will defend the Ryder Cup between 1-3 October.
But Montgomerie will play at the Celtic Manor where he can run the rule of 12 potential candidates for his European team when they try to reclaim the trophy in the first Ryder Cup to be played in Wales.
"I managed that all, bar Sergio at the PGA Championship at Wentworth last week, and if the Wales open was the week after the PGA I think more people would have stayed on.
"But because it is two weeks after, the players tend to disperse to wherever they are from in the world and some of the potential team live in Florida.
"But I’m quite happy that some of them have changed their schedule to accommodate the Wales Open and that is a very positive thing for the European Tour and the team."
Irishman Harrington, the three-times major winner, and Swede Karlsson are 14th and 30th in the world respectively and their withdrawals are a blow to both Montgomerie and Wales Open chiefs.
But two of the world’s top 15 players will grace the Celtic Manor next week as German Martin Kaymer, the world number 11 who is bidding for his Ryder Cup bow, and England’s Luke Donald, the world number 13 who hopes to star in his third Ryder Cup 2010, will play.
The Celtic Manor event still boasts four of the players currently in qualifying positions, as English pair Ross McGowan and Simon Dyson, Quiros and Kaymer are flying high in the European points list and a pushing to make their Ryder Cup debut.
New PGA champion Simon Khan, the 2004 Wales Open winner, is also an outsider to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup 2010 and he will play at the Celtic Manor next week.
Fans favourite Jiminez, Wales Open winner in 2005, is also just outside Ryder Cup qualification but a 17th European Tour title would catapult his push for a fourth Ryder Cup place.
American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin made his Wales Open debut in 2009 but he will not play at this year’s Celtic Manor tournament.
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Ryder Cup 2010: Colin Montgomerie refuses to believe US will omit Tiger Woods

Colin Montgomerie, the European Ryder Cup captain, says the United States would be significantly weaker should Tiger Woods not be selected.
Among the general disbelief over Pavin’s revelation this week that Woods, who is only 11th in his country’s Ryder Cup points race, is not guaranteed to be picked is Jack Nicklaus’s observation that the American captain would need the services of a neurosurgeon if he omitted Woods, an opinion with which Montgomerie concurs.
"It would be very difficult for me to say they would be a better team without the best player who has ever played the game," Montgomerie said.
"That doesn’t add up. To have someone on your side who is going to guarantee you three points minimum out of five – you’d take that."
Nevertheless, Pavin must take into account the excess baggage Woods would bring this year if selected, and it was surely in Montgomerie’s mind when he added that "the advantage with our team is that there are no great egos involved".
Paul Azinger, the victorious captain in 2008, has revealed how he engineered his team’s camaraderie in his book, Cracking the Code: The Winning Ryder Cup 2010 Strategy, and Pavin fears that Woods’s involvement could make the code indecipherable again.
Montgomerie, who has incidentally acquired a copy of Azinger’s book even if he has been too busy to read it, has his own selections to ponder, and the impression given is that his picks will depend on more than just form. "It is not who is the better golfer I have to think about the team," he said.
Sergio Garcia, for example, remains in his thoughts despite the Spaniard’s poor form, which was accompanied this week by his insistence that, as things stand, he would politely decline a place in the team yet Montgomerie is adamant.
"Any team without Sergio is a weaker one, and by definition any team with him is a stronger one," he said.
It is with this in mind that Montgomerie intends to travel to Pebble Beach for the US Open next month to give Garcia a "pep talk", in the hope that he turns can turn his game around in time.
Talk of Woods and Garcia, meanwhile, offered a convenient diversion from the fact that seven potential members of the European team have now ignored their leader’s request that they cash in on the opportunity to get a feel for Celtic Manor, after Robert Karlsson became the latest to withdraw from next month’s Wales Open.
Montgomery, however, shrugged it off, saying: "I want to focus on who plays there, not on who doesn’t."

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Ryder Cup 2010: Donald backs Garcia to bounce back

Luke Donald’s main focus is on himself at the Madrid Masters this weekend as he tries for a first win in four years – but he has spared a thought for struggling Sergio Garcia.
While Donald reached halfway on 12 under par and one ahead of Welshman Rhys Davies the event has also seen Garcia miss his first cut on European soil since the 2004 Open at Troon.
It was only 14 months ago that the 30-year-old Spaniard had a chance to topple Tiger Woods from the world number one spot, but he is not in the top 30 now and a sixth Ryder Cup cap in October is hanging in the balance.
Donald played with Garcia the first two days in the Spanish capital and he also has a record of four wins out of four with him in Ryder Cup 2010 foursomes.
"I have no doubt he will be back," said the world number 13. "He’s working hard with Pete Cowen and his father and he seems more positive.
"It would seem strange to be at a Ryder Cup without Sergio. He has so much passion and the Ryder Cup can spur you on.
"I would love to have him there, but if he does not feel he can help I understand that view too."
Garcia came into the tournament saying that he would decline a wild card if the decision had to be made.
Happily for him – and for cup captain Colin Montgomerie, who says Europe will be weaker without the player who has been an ever-present since his 1999 debut at the age of 19 – Garcia has three months to go in the qualifying race.
Donald is not in an automatic position yet either, but his runners-up finish at Wentworth last week boosted his hopes and he is on course to make amends for double-bogeying the penultimate hole in the BMW PGA Championship.
His last victory came in America in 2006, but his last European Tour success was six years ago.
"I was a little disappointed the way I finished – I thought I could have got the lead on my own, but all in all I’m not going to complain," he said. "I’m right in with a shout."
Compatriot Jamie Donaldson resumed two strokes further back in third and Ryder Cup Ulsterman Graeme McDowell was fourth overnight on eight under.
Garcia said: "Nobody likes to miss a cut, in front of your home crowd even more.
"It’s disappointing, but it is what it is. I’m just not playing well enough – it’s as simple as that.
"Hopefully it will turn around. It’s just a matter of seeing how long it will take. It’s hard because when you know your potential and you feel you can’t achieve it its difficult."
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