“I'm planning on playing my way into the team.”

Steve Elling on his exchange with Tiger Woods today over the possibility of going as a captain's pick.

Later, ESPN.com’s Bob Harig asked Woods whether a meeting with Pavin was unnecessary, a roundabout attempt to get Woods to verbally commit to playing regardless of how he made the 12-man U.S. team.

No luck with the knuckleball offering, either.

“I think if I do well this week, I should sew up my spot,” he said.

Woods drew laughs with his stubbornness, but with a simple answer, he could have cleared up the discussion and ended the questions. Let the speculation continue. This time, he rekindled the speculative bonfire himself.

Perhaps pride forbids him from even contemplating the need to be a captain's pick, or maybe he's just that confident he'll make it on points. Or both.

Monty Assembles His Brain Trust; Ollie Not Included

After all the will he or won't he talk, Monty didn't include Jose Maria Olazabal in his assistant captain's club but does have Darren Clarke on board, even though Clarke could be a candidate for the team if he continues his excellent play.

Either way, they are the reddest group I've ever seen.

Neither was there a place for Jose Maria Olazabal, the single vice-captain to Sir Nick Faldo during the defeat two years ago at Valhalla, Kentucky and the likely European captain for the 2012 match at Medinah, Illinois. The Spaniard suffers from a rheumatic ailment and as a result his schedule has been limited this year.

That does not fit with captain Montgomerie’s policy of appointing current players who play week-in, week-out and are known well to the ones likely to make the team that will be finalised on August 29 at the end of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

"European skipper Colin Montgomerie has revealed he will wait until after The Open at St Andrews to confirm his two vice-captains for the Ryder Cup."

I know you're disappointed at this news. Maybe he's just waiting to talk to Faldo?

"So follow me, if you will, as we magically enter the head of the eight-time European number one."

John Huggan tries to think like Monty and as you'd expect, it's not pretty.

Monty: Enter The Tournament I'm Chair Of, Assuming You Want To Be A Captain's Pick

Derek Lawrenson on Monty telling Europe's leading players that if they skip final qualifying spot at Gleneagles in August--which conflicts with the first FedEx Cup playoff event--they risk missing out on the Ryder Cup should they not make the team on points.

‘I’ll be very surprised if I pick any player on the border of the team whom I ask to play at Gleneagles and they don’t show up,’ he said. ‘I expect there will be about eight
 candidates for my three wild cards and it should be a given that they turn up at the final event.’

A fascinating battle of wills, therefore, between the captain and some of those who have served Europe so well at past Ryder Cups. It will be interesting to see who blinks first.

Garcia, for example, was shocked when he learned of the clash between the FedEx Cup and the last qualifying event, the Johnnie Walker Championship.

‘Why have they done that?’ asked the Spaniard, who didn’t even turn up at the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth last month. ‘The Ryder Cup is very important but you can’t change your whole schedule for it.’

There's just one glaring conflict of interest issue here and I know you'll be shocked....shocked, to learn that it involves Captain Monty!

Monty, who also happens to be tournament host at that event at Gleneagles, was furious when Nick Faldo, captain last time, picked two wild cards who took up the FedEx Cup option: Casey and Ian Poulter.

And the reactions? Alistair Tait in Golfweek:

The man gives the impression that he is in complete control. Yet underneath, it’s hard not to leave one of his news conferences with the impression he’s making things up as he goes along.

Peter Dixon says Monty tried to backtrack, but not really.

When pushed, however, Montgomerie was forced to backtrack. “OK, no, it’s not cast in stone. I cannot tell people to be playing in particular tournaments,” he said. “I can only ask. But I would be very surprised if I ask those particular players that are on the border [and] they are not there.”

And it seems that this will be the case, at least for Sergio. Mark Reason writes:

“I, you, the audience can’t envisage a Ryder Cup without Sergio. He’s a different case. I will be asking him to participate at Gleneagles to make the effort that’s required to be on the team.

“He’s the one guy that’s brought passion to the Ryder Cup after Seve. Seve’s the most passionate player I’ve seen play golf. Sergio is of that ilk. He’s been a great asset to any team I’ve been on with him.”

To call Garcia a different case is asking for trouble. Monty might think in private that Garcia is a different case and there are many who would agree with Europe’s Ryder Cup captain. But it is ill-advised to say so in public.

Monty Identifies Vice Captains; World Can Now Go Back To Less Important Matters

And he's only going with three (Bjorn, McGinley and Olazabal), compared to Captain Pavin's four. For now."

Europe captain Colin Montgomerie identified Thomas Bjorn, Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal as his ideal choices to be vice captains for the Ryder Cup.

That’s assuming none of them qualify to play.

Montgomerie said Wednesday that he wants Bjorn and McGinley, who have competed in a combined five Ryder Cups, to focus on perhaps making the team over the next couple of months.

“The Americans are having four vice captains. I shall have three, maybe four,” Montgomerie said at the Real Club de Golf in Seville on the eve of the Spanish Open. “But I will not be naming them until after The Open at St. Andrews in July because, with Bjorn and McGinley, I want them to have every chance to make the team as players again.