Martin Kaymer hopes to benefit from playing with Monty

MARTIN Kaymer, the defending champion in the Barclays Scottish Open, will be on his best behaviour when he partners Colin Montgomerie in the opening two rounds at Loch Lomond.

The German, who watched last night's World Cup semi-final in the company of Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, revealed playing with Montgomerie, the Ryder Cup captain, this year had put extra pressure on players hoping to make the Scot's team at Celtic Manor. Welshman Rhys Davies, another Ryder Cup contender, is the other player in Montgomerie's group today and tomorrow, and Kaymer noted: "There's been a different feeling for every player who has played with Monty this year - you want to behave a little better. But we will enjoy ourselves. Colin is a very nice guy and a gentleman."

Kaymer, currently sitting in one of the nine automatic spots, is determined to be in the side to face the Americans in October and intends to draw on his experience of being close to the European team at Valhalla two years ago, when he was invited along by captain Nick Faldo to savour the atmosphere at the biennial event.

"The Ryder Cup has been on my mind since I won in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year and I practised a lot in March and April just to get ready for this stretch of tournaments," he admitted. "But it's tight and there are seven or eight players who can get into the team if they play well in the next two weeks.

"I learned a lot about the event when I went to Kentucky and I think I am better prepared now. I hope Monty is going to do the same thing that Nick Faldo did and invite two or three upcoming stars or European players to Wales because it helped me a lot. It gave me the motivation to be there (in the Ryder Cup] myself one day and hopefully that will be this year. The Americans deserved to win two years ago because they were better in the short game than the Europeans.

"I don't want to put the European team under pressure, but I think we are going to have a good team this year, and I think we should win the Ryder Cup."

Montgomerie, the 1999 winner, spearheads a 14-strong Scottish contingent, with former PGA champion Scott Drummond having been handed a late invitation.