Monty Gets Good Night's Rest, Bamboozles Pen Pushers Into Believing He Is A Merry Old Chap

I was stunned to enter Sherwood's cart barn today to find a jovial group of writers parsing the Colin Montgomerie transcript, only to hear things like "he really can be nice if he wants" and "he's not the fat shlub I thought he would be" and "how's that mysterious looking shredded chicken?"

Apparently Monty put on quite the show for his 9:15 press conference, which is about three hours before any sane individual would arrive to listen to any tour player but Tiger. However, there are those with early deadlines so the turnout was lovely. You can read the lovefest here, or get the overview from Mark Lamport-Stokes.

Or I can put it more succinctly: Monty and Captain Faldo have figured out a way to give the impression that they get along.

Lamport-Stokes:

"I've spoken to Nick and it's fine," Montgomerie told a news conference on Wednesday during preparation for this week's Target World Challenge. "It doesn't concern me."

After being criticised by Faldo for an apparent lack of team spirit at the Seve Trophy in September, Montgomerie countered by saying such comments should have been directed to him personally instead of through the media.

With that hatchet now seemingly buried, Montgomerie believes it is paramount for Europe to maintain the team unity that has helped them win the Ryder Cup five times in the last six years.

"Let's hope the ambiance of our European team remains as it has done throughout that time, meaning that we go in there relaxed, we go in there as a team," he said of next year's contest in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ah that's the team spirit!

Azinger Appears Overwhelmed By Leroy Neiman's Captain's Portrait

I know what you're thinking. Leroy Neiman still paints?

Unfortunately.

He was commissioned by the PGA of America to capture the current Ryder Cup captains for reasons unknown. Azinger could not look more pleased, don't you think?  The look says, "this will look great in my garage right next to the Leroy Neiman African safari prints that the previous owners left behind."

But Azinger won't have to make room for it, charity will be the uh, beneficiary.

The works of art will be auctioned to benefit the Ali Center and The First Tee of Louisville.

The unveiling was held in the LeRoy Neiman Gallery of the Ali Center, which also features Neiman's famed portrait and other images of Ali.

The Ryder Cup Captains' portraits will move to the Cobalt Artworks Gallery nearby on Louisville's Main Street. Both pieces of original art will be auctioned off by public bidding, which will continue until Sept. 17, 2008, when the portraits will be awarded to the highest bidders during the Ryder Cup Gala Dinner.

Ferguson: Monty Should Not Count On A Captain's Pick

Doug Ferguson reviews the history between lovebirds Faldo and Monty and concludes that if the round Scot wants to play at Valhalla before his self-appointed captaincy in 2010, he better play himself onto the team.

Montgomerie has played in every Ryder Cup since 1991. His 23 1/2 points are second only to Faldo and Bernhard Langer. He has never lost a singles match, and one more singles victory would break the Ryder Cup record he shares with the likes of Faldo, Billy Casper, Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead.

Yet, that won’t assure him a spot on the team, especially not with Faldo as the captain.

They were contemporaries, but rarely rivals. Montgomerie narrowly beat him to capture his first Order of Merit in 1993, but Faldo spent the rest of his decade focusing on the PGA Tour, the toughest tour in golf, where Monty never won.

Their social relationship began to slide in 1999, two weeks before the Ryder Cup. Faldo was at the Canadian Open when he was asked why Montgomerie, who was on his way to a seventh consecutive Order of Merit, had never tried to spend a full season on the PGA Tour.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t thought of doing something different as a challenge,” Faldo said. “But hell, I think he likes to earn his fat checks each week, which is no harm in that, I guess. If you’re motivated by that. A few are. Most of us go for 10 Claret Jugs.”

Montgomerie was hurt. European captain Mark James was so outraged that when Faldo wrote the team a note wishing them well, James tore it up and tossed it in the trash.

And...

One of the most amazing transformations in golf was from Faldo, the prickly superstar with few words and even fewer friends, to Faldo, the golf analyst with a dry wit who can’t stop talking. He probably would host infomercials if Golf Channel would let him.

Being a captain makes him competitive again.

“My days of winning majors have gone, and now this is the biggest project in my golf career right now,” he said. “So yes, it’s very important to me.”

There is an aura about Faldo that appeals to a younger generation — Paul Casey, Nick Dougherty, Luke Donald — who grew up with Faldo as the face of European golf. His contemporaries, such as Torrance and James, have experienced the selfish side of Nasty Nick.

But they won’t be playing for him.

And if Montgomerie doesn’t make the team on his own, he might not be, either.
 

"He thought he made a mistake once, but he was mistaken."

From Monday's Ryder Cup press conference. Yet another reminder how much golf misses the Faldo-Azinger antics.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Thank you, Julius, everybody. And thank you everyone.
Richard, don't count yourself out yet. The way Nick's assistants are dropping like flies, you may be in there as a Captain's Assistant. (Laughter).

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: I'm ready for you. That's what we used to do on ABC.

Sounds like the changes at Valhalla are just splendid... 

Q. Paul, just talk about the course today that you saw and how different it is, and then maybe Nick, also, just how different it is than what it was in 2000.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: It's quite a bit longer than it was in 2000. I really had forgotten how much undulation there was here. But it's, you know, I think it's going to be a bit hard, the redo of the four greens that they did, the greens don't look anything like the greens that have been here and been in place. They have been made very, very difficult. It's going to be even a challenge on a couple of them to find four pins I think maybe.

But I think it's going to be probably a little more difficult at 7,500 yards. Of course we may not play it at that length. I'm not sure yet. I think I'm going to have a little influence or say-so in the course setup as the home team captain.

So it's going to really depend on the makeup of our team I think as to how long we'll play the golf course. I think Europe's worked a pretty good advantage in their home course setup the last few Ryder Cups, and if we can get any kind of an edge at all, I'll be looking for that; I don't know what it will be.

If that was too subliminal, this should spell it out...

Q. A lot of times we'll hear a hole described as "a great match-play hole." Can each of you talk about what makes a hole a great match-play hole, and specifically, out here, which of these holes do you think are going to be a great match-play hole?

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: I think a great match-play hole, I think when someone says that, I think it's a hole that gives you a lot of options, maybe an aggressive option versus a conservative option where the guy maybe who is leading the match makes a conservative decision and presses a guy's hands who may be behind and have to make an aggressive decision.

I think there's a couple holes like that out here. I think namely the 13th hole, the tee looks like it may be moved up and guys may actually take a crack at that green. That could be an example of what you're talking about.

JULIUS MASON: Nick, thoughts on a good match-play hole?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Well, I agree, it's risk and reward. 13 is one option. But as we discovered today, not too much bail-out area (chuckling). Trees or water, there's your choice.

I can't see a true match-play hole. It's a very good golf course and they are all very good holes, but for me personally I can't see a true match-play hole at the moment.

That's not good. Even Firestone has a few match play holes!

Q. Secondly, there was a lot of talk at Wentworth about how much you had made from Monty about the Seve Trophy. Have you talked to previous captains and do you regret anything you said?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: What comments are they?

Q. Just that Monty missed a few meetings --

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Sorry, missed that.

Q. Well, the quote was that Monty was a tough one and he was the only one whose emotions you had to deal with.

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: I can't hear.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: That you called Monty a really bad word or something, (laughter), horse's something -- I don't know. (Laughter).

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Are you the same as me? I can't hear the question.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Doug, you're a little waffly there.

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Yeah, i can't get the question.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Ask it again, Doug. I want to hear the answer. (Laughter).

JULIUS MASON: We'll bring Richard back up at this point.

Q. You were quoted in the Times of London as just saying Monty was a difficult one at the Seve Trophy and didn't come to all of the meetings and was the only one whose emotions you had to deal with. Curious if there was any fallout or if you spoke to any previous captains who were critical of you being so open.

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: No fallout.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: That was a horrible answer. (Laughter).

Oh and we have a year to go! Here's more...

Q. Have you spoken to anybody yet about replacing Paul McGinley as an assistant captain?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: No.

Q. Whoever it might be, do you view their role the same as Paul expressed earlier, that it's not just baby sitting, it's to stop you making mistakes?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: To what?

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Keep you from making a mistake, not like baby-sitting.

Q. That's the way Paul expressed it.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: He thought he made a mistake once, but he was mistaken. (Laughter).

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Yeah (dryly) (Laughter) You have to live, you do the best you can. You make your best decisions all the time.

Torrance Joins Euro Ryder Cup Drama

Lawrence Donegan reports on the latest in the Faldo-Monty brouhaha:

Joining Gallacher in the Montgomerie camp was Sam Torrance, a contemporary of Faldo and, like many who played alongside the Englishman when he was at his peak, not a huge fan of his interpersonal skills. "To even remotely suggest that Colin is not a team man is outrageous. I played in five Ryder Cups with Colin, a couple of World Cups and numerous Dunhill Cups and one thing he is for certain is a team man," Torrance said.

"I don't think you can criticise your players in public. It is not something I would have done and it's not something I've seen any other captain do. You've got to keep nice decorum in the team-room and keep them all happy. I'm sure Nick will learn from this, he will have seen the error of his ways in criticising Colin like that."

“Monty’s a tough one. He was the only one whose emotions I had to deal with.

The all time worst buried lede award may go to John Hopkins for sticking this quote from Nick Faldo at the end of a boring piece on Faldo's "Captain's log."

“Monty’s a tough one,” Faldo said. “He was the only one whose emotions I had to deal with. He only came to two of the five team meetings, so that was disappointing. Then he had to be teased out on to the 18th green to support his team. The bottom line was that he hadn’t won a point. That’s why I sent him out first in the singles. That’s the place to get a point. And he did.”

Update on 2007-10-12 15:20 by Geoff

Bernard Gallacher weighs in and it's now official, we have full on Ryder Cup soap opera a year out!

But Gallacher was damning with his response. He said: "Nick should be more discrete at this stage, especially as the Ryder Cup is next year. He should keep that sort of stuff for his memoirs after the Ryder Cup, rather than saying it now."

But Gallacher, who had Faldo in all his three teams, said: "I never felt Nick was a real team player but I accepted that as a captain because he gave you points.

And...

"He wasn't a player like Seve, in as much as Seve would try and rule the team meetings and be out on the course rooting for the players. Nick always wanted to play with the best players. I went along with that because he was pretty good.

"But sometimes tactically you need to split the best players up. Seve was always up for that but Nick wasn't."

Elling: Nicklaus Open To Ryder Cup Captaincy

Take that Faldo and McGinley!

Talk about a juicy Ryder Cup story on the even of the President's Cup. Steve Elling explains. 

The game's most revered figure was shooting the breeze with a handful of writers when the subject of future captaincies was broached. Nicklaus has served as the American captain of the past three Presidents Cup teams, but hasn't so much as attended a Ryder Cup in years. He last captained a Ryder team in 1987. For the past few years, the Americans have gushed about how Nicklaus' managerial style keeps them loose but focused on the task at hand, vs. the micro-managing of other captains. So maybe the best way for the Ryder Cup to move forward after absorbing consecutive losses by record margins to Europe is to move backward first.

"If I happened to get asked, would I do it again, sure," Nicklaus said. "It's very flattering. I didn't expect to do it again this time (at the Presidents Cup), as you know."

After winning the Presidents Cup in Washington, D.C., in 2005, the U.S. players practically insisted that he return.

"I love being involved in the game of golf," Nicklaus said. "I love being around these young guys. That's something money cannot buy."

I guess that pretty much rules out Larry Nelson for consideration in 2010 at that dreadful course in Wales. 

"Eiregate"

As expected, England's finest pounced on the Paul McGinley Vice Captain resignation story with glee. Really, anything to not have to pen a Seve Trophy preview story.

McGinley assuredly wrapped up some sort of media relations award for this act of kindness.

Mark Garrod and Peter Dixon file pieces (here and here) looking at the sequence of events while Derek Lawrenson comes out and says what most assumed:

Faldo became dead meat in Ireland from the moment he overlooked their sporting hero Paul McGinley for one of his Seve wild cards. With Padraig Harrington having withdrawn, it meant no Irishman in the team.

'Eiregate' duly escalated yesterday when McGinley, privately furious at not being chosen, announced his resignation as one of Faldo's vice-captains for next year's Ryder Cup at Valhalla, Kentucky.

Wisely, the Dubliner chose not to make it personal in his official statement, saying: 'It was a great honour to be chosen by Nick but, on reflection and after careful consideration, I feel it is in my best interests to concentrate on playing my way into the team.'

McGinley will be a great asset if he can find his true form once more. But, equally, Faldo can hardly be blamed — outside Ireland, anyway — for feeling that he knows everything about the 40-year-old's estimable qualities and plumping instead for two young guns in form in Simon Dyson and Marc Warren, recent winner of the Johnnie Walker Championship.

And Lawrence Donegan weighed in with this...

The timing was also curious, coming as it did on the eve of the Seve Trophy match between a team from Great Britain and Ireland, captained by Faldo, and a European squad led by Seve Ballesteros. There have been suggestions in golfing circles that McGinley was bemused by Faldo's decision not to select him as a wild-card pick for his squad, especially as it would have given the Irishman some valuable insight into the European captain's thinking on team matters before next year's Ryder Cup.

For all his greatness as a golfer, Faldo has long had a reputation for being a high-handicapper when it comes to personal relations. McGinley's departure in such circumstances will have done little to change the mind of those who suspect there will more upheaval within European ranks before a ball is struck in anger in Kentucky.

Euro Writers Rejoice: McGinley Resigns As Vice Captain, First '08 Ryder Cup Controversy Will Prevent Having To Cover Seve Trophy

From Reuters, and almost assuredly, with excessive follow ups for weeks to come...

Paul McGinley has resigned as Europe's 2008 Ryder Cup vice-captain, team skipper Nick Faldo said on Wednesday.

Faldo denied the Irishman's decision had anything to do with him not being chosen as one of the Britain and Ireland Seve Trophy wildcards by Faldo, who is also the team's skipper this week in Ireland.

"I spoke to Paul last week and he said 'I've got a lot of events coming up'. I can sense the rumblings and then we spoke this morning and he decided to withdraw his position," Faldo told a news conference.

This is fun... 

"He told me he was really concerned about the workload that will be involved as vice-captain, because he wants to play himself into the team for Valhalla.

The workload?

"Good luck to him. The man holed a winning putt on the Ryder Cup and that's the sort of player I want on my team."

Asked if his decision to overlook McGinley for the match against Seve Ballesteros's Europeans might be linked to the Irishman's move, Faldo said: "No, not at all. Playing is his priority. We chatted well together."

There was no fistfight, no name calling. It's all good. Well, almost...

Faldo did admit McGinley had demurred when he asked the Irishman to accompany him this week at the Heritage, where the action gets underway on Thursday.

"When I said to him 'did you want to come?' he said 'No, I'm preparing to play' (in the Dunhill Links Championship).

And...

In a statement, McGinley said: "It was a great honour to be picked by Nick but, after careful consideration, I feel it is in my best interest to concentrate on playing myself into the team.

"I've played the last three matches and I want to play at Valhalla. I want to play for Nick and bring the Cup back to Europe again."

Faldo chose McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal as his vice-captains. Olazabal has indicated that he too wants to play at Valhalla.

"I might be on my own," Faldo joked. "But I've got big enough shoulders."

"Nothing would have given me more pleasure than inflicting a touch of pain and suffering on the US Tour's unworthy wealthy."

Vintage Frank Hannigan, writing in The Scotsman on Europe's U.S. Open winless drought:

I'll tell you a secret. I held high office at the USGA in those days and we wanted a European to win. It would have emphasised the worldliness of our event and victories by Europeans would have seemed a put-down for the US PGA Tour. Nothing would have given me more pleasure than inflicting a touch of pain and suffering on the US Tour's unworthy wealthy.

But you let us down. And now your prospects are worse. In the world of golf gambling (illegal in the United States and therefore cited here only as hearsay) the lowest-priced Europeans are an uninviting 30-1, the numbers cited for Padraig Harrington, who comes close but always seems to make a six at least once during the final nine holes; Sergio Garcia, who has been "promising" for at least a decade and still misses three-foot putts; and the pretty swinging Luke Donald, who fancies himself as a genuine artist - on canvas at least. Trust me, Ben Hogan did not own a palette.

As for the Ryder Cup, a thought: it matters much more to your side than it does to ours. I don't think it means much at all to Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, who can tolerate, if barely, playing for nothing while big money is sucked in by the PGA of America. But what's intolerable is being forced to attend a string of the world's most boring dinner parties during the run-up to the event.

And he slips this in... 

Indeed, it saddens me to think that not nearly enough of you are going to see this new version of Oakmont. The United States Golf Association, in its infinite greed, sold the television rights to Rupert Murdoch's Sky operation so as to diminish the audience in the UK. The BBC, thank goodness, continues to own the rights to the Masters.

Olazabal, McGinley To Spend Next 15 Months Being Asked "Will You Play As An Assistant Captain?"

Lawrence Donegan reports the story only a European writer could call news. They even held a press conference for this momentous occasion!

Huggan On Azinger

John Huggan does his best to get off on the wrong foot with the new U.S. Ryder Cup Captain.

Over the course of four Ryder Cups, the 46-year-old golfer all but covered the playing and behavioural spectrum, from sublime to distasteful. Indeed, Azinger's whole career has been regularly blighted by doubts over his character amid accusations that his adherence to golf's rule-book is sometimes less than exemplary.

Oh but he said that about Lehman too, and they've since bonded. Though this may be tough to overcome... 

Listening to a winning speech laced with Azinger's warped brand of so-called patriotism is something that we should all be spared.

Huggan's just jealous that we have a Captain and points system that will get us into double digits in '08. 

More Ryder Cup Points Reaction

John Hawkins on the new U.S. Ryder Cup point system:

I think it’s interesting that the PGA of America chose to base its standings on dollars instead of Fed-Ex points. Club Pro Central is not real happy about the PGA Tour’s holding its ’08 playoff series in the four weeks immediately preceding the Ryder Cup, which, as I pointed out yesterday, can only hurt America’s chances against the Europeans at Valhalla.

What he doesn't point out is that the Captain's picks will be made the week of the Tour Championship, which in the brand platform marketing world seems like a gigantic screw you to the PGA Tour. Then again, isn't NBC covering the event now? So maybe they will love it. I can't keep up with all of this synergy. 

Meanwhile over at SI.com, Hawkins' favorite press dining room companion Alan Shipnuck cuts through all of the points analysis and hits the point that really matters:

Paul Azinger's Ryder Cup captaincy is already off to a great start with a new qualifying system that is vastly superior to the point system instituted by his predecessor Tom Lehman. With any luck we'll only lose by five or six points in '08!

US Reaction To Azinger and New Points System

John Hawkins weighing in at GolfDigest.com:

He’s a guy who lived and breathed for the third week in September of every other year, relishing the chance to play for Old Glory.

Can the new captain impart that attitude throughout his squad? Not in three or four days, or however long the Yanks hang out before we start keeping score. Not with the ’08 Ryder Cup being played right after the Fed-Ex Cup playoffs—the top U.S. players are sure to be drained by six or seven starts in the eight-week stretch leading into Valhalla. And not with the core group Azinger is sure to have. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk are the best in the world when golf is an individual sport. In a team format, however, the Yanks have proven competitively dysfunctional, unable to maximize their bounty of resources as a group.

And Steve Elling in the Orlando Sentinel:

Going forward, Ryder Cup candidates will be rewarded for their performance at the majors, if not for their earnings. In 2007, players can't earn points unless they make the cut at a major championship. The 2008 season has been given far more weight, with players amassing points based on their dollar totals and performances at Grand Slam events.

"Wow, that's pretty amazing," said two-time Ryder Cupper Chris DiMarco when told of the new scheme on his way to an event this week in China. "Now you have to be in the top eight to make the team? I'm not sure I know how to respond to that. But everybody is sick and tired of losing, so it's probably time to try something very different."

Whereas U.S. players previously were rewarded for top-10 finishes -- with the influx of foreign talent, that's become increasing tougher -- now anytime they make a check in 2008, they'll make some progress toward a spot on the team. Azinger and six PGA officials came up with the new configuration.

"Money has always been the barometer out here," Azinger said.

Whether the revision will result in wholesale changes in team personnel -- or turn around America's flagging fortunes -- appears debatable. PGA President Roger Warren said his organization, which runs the event, ran the numbers from the 2006 team and noted there were few, if any, changes to the composition of the top players on the points list.

"There wasn't much difference in the top 6, 7, 8 players," Warren said.

Azinger, however, said the system weeds out players who collected too many points several months before the competition.

"I do think that there is going to be one clear distinction in '08, and that's simply that there is not going to be a single player on tour that's going to know in January of '08 that they're a lock for that Ryder Cup team, including Tiger [Woods]," he said. "The reality is, nobody is going to have qualified for this team based on their performance in '07."

UK Reaction To Azinger and New Points System

James Corrigan was easily the toughest when reporting for the Independent: 

America have proved just how desperate they are to reclaim the Ryder Cup by granting their new captain unprecedented powers.

John Hopkins in the Times:

What the PGA of America has come up with is far-reaching and significant...Perhaps the most significant change of all is that the bizarre qualification process used for this year’s match has been abandoned. In its place is one that rewards Ryder Cup candidates for their good play in tournaments on the tour in the US and gives extra points in the major championships.

Lawrence Donegan in the Guardian:

Paul Azinger was yesterday appointed captain of the United States team for the 2008 Ryder Cup match against Europe and began his tenure with the now-traditional swipe at critics who argue that the US team loses because they care less than their opponents. "I think anyone who suggests that our players won't be as hungry as their players might be in for a big shock," he said during a press conference at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, where the next match will be staged.

And the Principal's Nose offered this:

In one swoop, the PGA of America has reduced the PGA Tour to a mere side show to the Majors and the Ryder Cup, for as they throw their hat into the ring with the Majors, and although they are the anti-Christ of all things good in golf, they see the Ryder Cup as being bigger than a whole season on Tour. In other words, the PGA Tour no longer holds any power.