Ryder Cup specialist Colin Montgomerie says he’s confident of pressing home his claims on one of captain Nick Faldo’s two wild card choices by winning this weekend’s Johnnie Walker Championship.
This is the final event before Europe’s 12-man side for Valhalla next month is known, and even if Montgomerie wins on Sunday the highest that the 45-year-old Scot — a star of the last eight matches against the Americans — can finish on the points table is 15th.
WILD CARDS
Ten players are selected off that, and then captain Faldo will name his two wild cards. Paul Casey and Darren Clarke — a winner on Sunday in Holland — are the favorites.
But Ian Poulter is now in the mix as well and the British Open runner up’s decision to stay in America this week when fifth place in Scotland could have qualified him has complicated the issue.
Montgomerie’s recent poor fun is weighing heavily against him, but against that is his cup record which shows he has never been beaten in singles and is two wins away from passing Faldo as the event’s record points-scorer.
Asked how confident he would be that the Ryder Cup would inspire him again, Montgomerie on Wednesday replied: “I think that’s obvious. The Ryder Cup has brought the best out of me. Everybody tells me, ‘Why don’t you just play the way you do in the Ryder Cup?’
“As Tom Lehman said in America, ‘We’d be delighted if Monty is not playing.’ I think that says a lot,” Montgomerie said.
FORM
“To get selected I think I’ve got to show some form. I haven’t become a bad player, I’m just sort of out of form and have been for the last month,” he said.
For the task in hand at Gleneagles on a course with five par-fives, Montgomerie has been striving for an extra 15-20 yards.
“I think I’ve got 15 of it,” he said. “I’m still five short, but we will see. That’s what I was doing yesterday — trying to find launch angles and all kind of fancy technical stuff that I’ve never been into before.”
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