Colin Montgomerie urges more captain's picks for next Ryder Cup

Published on Saturday 30 October 2010 13:56

Ryder Cup-winning captain Colin Montgomerie wants his successor to have more picks when Europe defend their title in 2012 to avoid the "terrible" situation of omitting world class players.

Montgomerie left out world No.7 Paul Casey and twice winner on this season's PGA Tour Justin Rose, instead opting for three-times major winner Padraig Harrington, world No.8 Luke Donald and Italian Edoardo Molinari as his wildcard picks.

"The more captain's picks the better. Can you imagine if I had only had two? It was bad enough with three," the Scot said at the Mission Hills pro-celebrity tournament in Hainan, southern China yesterday.

"I think there's a general consensus that the captain should have more picks rather than less. I personally would not want the same situation to fall on another captain whereby one has to leave out world-class players."

Despite the difficult situation, Montgomerie's team triumphed at Celtic Manor but the Scot believes things still need to change.

"That was a terrible day for me, it really was," Montgomerie said of the selection day when he names his wildcard picks.

"It should have been an exciting day. But it wasn't, having to leave out players, and the way it was done - the timing was wrong. I had to tell people on the golf course in America - world players - that they couldn't play," he said.