Monty Already Greatest Captain In History Of Ryder Cup **
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The British Press is doing what it does best...building him up before they inevitably slap him around. Enjoy it Monty, because you know this won't last.
Mike Aitken in The Scotsman:
But Monty's credentials as one of Europe's greatest Ryder Cup players, along with an intimate knowledge of the men he will lead at Celtic Manor, swung the decision in his favour. Following in the footsteps of compatriots George Duncan, Johnny Fallon, Eric Brown, Bernard Gallacher and Sam Torrance, Montgomerie, who lives in Perthshire, had hoped to be honoured with the captaincy at Gleneagles in 2014.
Mark Reason in the Telegraph:
Many in the game believe that Montgomerie will be just as good a Ryder Cup leader as he has been a player. Peter McEvoy, arguably British golf's greatest captain yet, played with him as an amateur at Walker Cups and Eisenhower Trophys in the Eighties and believes that the Scot has everything it takes.
He said: "His enthusiasm and box office appeal will be very good for the Ryder Cup commercially. Monty will never be out of the newspapers. He loves it. But he's also got a really strong winning instinct.
"People always say that Monty should have won a major, but lacked the killer instinct. I think they've got it the wrong way round. I think he has been held back by a one-dimensional game, but has a hugely winning attitude that he will bring to the Ryder Cup captaincy. He will do what it takes. I can't see a negative."
Nope, me neither.
William Johnson reports that Monty has at least one assistant who will put up with him help him stay in touch with today's players.
Indeed, Montgomerie was so impressed by reports of how influential Olazabal had been in Valhalla last September that he has already offered the Spaniard an assistant's role next year. Olazabal has accepted.
Lawrence Donegan is the only one who sounds cautiously optimistic:
Watching Montgomerie handle his newly acquired status as the most popular man on tour, as well as the dynamics of his personal relations with other players – the good, the bad and ugly – will be one of the more fascinating parlour games of the next 18 months...
**More of the lovefest. Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail:
Few will say the committee got it wrong. Here were 15 good men who weighed one alleged indiscretion - when Monty was accused of moving a ball to a more advantageous position after a weather break during a tournament in Indonesia - against the welter of evidence of Monty's good deeds and rightly decided it was time to forgive and move on.
John Hopkins, who also thought Nick Faldo was doing a great job (for a while), in the Times:
Colin Montgomerie will be a good captain of the Europe team at Celtic Manor and he might even be a very good one. He will know the players better than some of his predecessors because he will have been playing alongside them in the days and weeks leading up to the event. This obviously did not apply to Nick Faldo at Valhalla last September.
