Martin Dempster: Monty needs to know why Olazabal seems reluctant

Olazabal, you may recall, was Nick Faldo's sole vice-captain for the last match in Kentucky. He did a fine job of it, too, earning praise from the European players for an inspirational team talk he delivered on the eve of the final-day singles.

As we all know, even that wasn't enough to stop the Americans getting their hands back on the Ryder Cup, but we can thank Faldo's poor captaincy for that and it was interesting that Olazabal was one of the few to defend the Englishman at the time.

In fact, he almost jumped down from the platform where the entire European team were sitting for their post-match press conference in the media centre at Valhalla to confront one journalist who, not without reason, wanted to grill Faldo about some of his strange decisions during the week.

Olazabal will make an excellent Ryder Cup captain one day, probably as Montgomerie's successor when the 2012 match is played at Medinah. However, the soundbites from the Spaniard regarding a possible role in the Scot's backroom team in Wales give cause for concern.

During last year's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, he said he'd be reluctant to act as a second string again and, by the looks of things, his opinion hasn't changed. Just last week, Olazabal was asked again about being one of Montgomerie's right-hand men and replied: "I already had that post. It's a useful job but it's more or less no-man's land. Being captain would be quite another thing."

Montgomerie has a real dilemma. Having heard from those players how good Olazabal was during the 2008 match, it's only natural he wants him there. But does he really want someone in that team room who, for whatever reason, is not 100 per cent behind him?

Unlike Faldo, the 2010 captain has decided to bide his time before handing out jobs that, no matter how experienced he himself is when it comes to the Ryder Cup, will prove crucial in his bid to ensure that little gold trophy doesn't head back across the Atlantic with Corey Pavin and his team.

From the day he was appointed, Montgomerie has had Thomas Bjorn and Paul McGinley pencilled in for two of those roles and, by the looks of things, he's going to get his wish. Bjorn and McGinley are nowhere near making the team in a playing capacity.

Both were a revelation in their roles when they captained the two teams, under the watchful eye of Montgomerie, in the Vivendi Trophy last year and you don't have to be a genius to work out that either Bjorn or McGinley is likely to be the man in charge of the European side when the Ryder Cup comes to Gleneagles in four years' time.

Unlike Faldo, who left himself so short-handed it was actually embarrassing, Montgomerie has said he'll have a sizeable backroom team but, if Olazabal is to be part of that, then the Scot really needs to have a long discussion with the two-time major winner and find out exactly why, on the face of it, there appears to a reluctance on his part.

That issue apart, things are shaping up pretty well for Montgomerie. He'll certainly be delighted that his call for players to support this week's BMW PGA Championship has received a positive response, with Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Martin Kaymer, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Justin Rose all in the line-up for Wentworth. Sergio Garcia, in fact, is the only notable absentee but that is down to the fact he rarely visits these shores nowadays due to tax reasons.

Always one of the highlights of the season, be prepared for a bit of a shock when the West Course appears on your television set later in the week. It's been re-modelled since Casey claimed the title 12 months ago and the 18th hole in particular looks very interesting indeed. It won't please everyone, but a fan of Harry Colt courses told me he'd gone to Wentworth recently expecting to hate what had been done to the iconic Surrey course yet actually loved it.

Clubs must heed alarm bells before it's too late

AN overheard lengthy conversation involving a group of golfers passionately discussing matters at their own club sparked the realisation that, despite the alarm bells having been ringing loudly for a long time now, some people still haven't got the message.

It would be wrong to say what club they were talking about, but it was clear they were worried about what is going on there at a time when so many clubs around Scotland are struggling to keep their heads above water.

A possible levy was mentioned and one of the group pointed out that, if it was a business, then the first thing that would happen is that running costs would be reduced. Heaven help them if someone hasn't realised that by now.

You only need to see the number of open days being held at the moment to see that clubs are still keen to try and attract new members. In the East of Scotland alone, Eyemouth and Swanston New have held such events recently while Haddington is opening its doors this Saturday.

The fight for clubs to survive has just started; it certainly isn't over.