'Size of our beds gave us an edge,' says Colin Montgomerie

Published on 08/12/2010 17:40

Colin Montgomerie has revealed one of the secrets of his Ryder Cup success in Wales - bigger beds than the Americans.

Less than a week before the match at Celtic Manor, Europe's captain decided that how his players slept might influence how they played.

"There are a lot of things behind the scenes you might not be aware of," said Montgomerie yesterday at the launch of next May's 'Golf Live' event at the London Club in Kent. "I looked at the rooms and thought they weren't big enough, so we all got connecting rooms.

"Then on the Saturday morning we got a removal company in and they brought six-foot beds and took the five-foot beds out. We were on the ninth floor and the Americans were on the eighth floor, but they didn't know about it. We also had six physio beds put up on that floor and there were tailors up there as well to make sure all the outfits fitted. It was all laid on. You have one hit at this and I wanted to get it right."

Even Montgomerie, though, did not envisage his team's waterproofs would give them another advantage. The Americans complained about theirs and eventually resorted to buying new sets from the merchandise tent. Although manufacturers Sun Mountain received terrible publicity over it Montgomerie believes the problem came from American captain Pavin and his wife deciding to emblazon the backs of the jackets with names.

"By the time you have done that you have put a lot of holes in them," added the Scot.