Colin Montgomerie calls for future wild card picks to be delayed

Published on Tuesday 14 December 2010 19:13

COLIN Montgomerie is predicting a "long meeting" when members of the tournament committee on the European Tour sit down in Abu Dhabi next month to discuss a successful but controversial Ryder Cup campaign and expects one of the outcomes to be an expanded format for the 2014 event at Gleneagles.

• Colin Montgomerie: Shake-up

Speaking yesterday in Perth, where he was attending an International Events Conference hosted by EventScotland, the winning European captain in Wales this year admitted a number of issues needed to be addressed for future Ryder Cups, especially in the wake of the "impossible situation" he found himself in the day his team was announced at Gleneagles.

Montgomerie revealed that he had still not managed to speak to Paul Casey, one of the players left feeling disappointed that day after being overlooked for a wild card, and said he believed the European team will not be announced so soon after the Johnnie Walker Championship, the final qualifying event, has finished in the future.

The Scot said he'd rather see future captains being able to wait a bit longer, as his American counterpart Corey Pavin did this year, as that would help avoid a situation that saw four players - Casey, Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose - find out whether or not they were in the team for Celtic Manor either as they were out on the course in a Fed Ex Cup event or just about to tee off.

He also hinted that the 2014 match in Perthshire could see a change in the format to involve all 12 players in each session, something the Scot has felt should have happened for a long time and his views are now even stronger after seeing that implemented when the proposed schedule was changed on the hoof due to weather delays in Wales.

"The next (tournament committee] meeting is in Abu Dhabi and it could be a long one as I think there will be lots of changes," said Montgomerie.

"After my horrible Sunday at Gleneagles, for instance, I don't think you will find the team being selected there and that time again.

"I never really understood the rush to do that when we did and, if anything, it was a negative as opposed to a positive in terms of the final day of the Johnnie Walker Championship because Edoardo Molinari's win was not documented as it might otherwise have been because most of the press interest was about who I'd left out as opposed to who I selected. I also think you will find the selection process changes within itself and I certainly hope the next captain will not have the same problems and issues I had because it was very difficult, an impossible decision to make, in fact."

Asked about Casey, who revealed recently that the pair hadn't discussed his shock omission, he added: "I have still to speak to Paul. I have been trying hard and I am not getting very far.

"E-mails, texts and voicemails, that's about my limit. I can't do any more than that. I have tried and we will leave it at that."

Montgomerie, however, was far more expansive about the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, just a few miles from his home in Dunning, where he opened a new clubhouse at the local golf club last weekend along with Colin Fleming, a badminton gold medallist in this year's Commonwealth Games.

And he is convinced that the format of that event, as well as the proposed dates that are almost certain now to be a lot earlier than they were in Wales, where the match had to be extended to a fourth day for the first time, will also come up during that meeting ahead of the Abu Dhabi Championship.

"I think having everyone on the pitch (on the second day in Wales] was great for everyone, working well for the fans and the TV," he added.

"I have always felt that if you are selected or qualify for the Ryder Cup, you should play and I think it is such a shame to have four players walking around at any one time. You might find more matches at Gleneagles."

Having enjoyed taking the trophy on a trip to the Far East and Australia since the win in Wales and being amazed by the interest in the event in those places, Montgomerie is now looking forward to being reunited with the Ryder Cup in Birmingham on Sunday night, when his side are in the running for the team prize at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.

"We're up against a Chelsea double team and an England 20-20 cricket team that won world championship, so there's stiff competition. But I think we might just be odds on for it," opined the Scot.