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JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP AT GLENEAGLESAugust 27, 2010Colin MontgomerieGLENEAGLES, SCOTLAND Q. Clearly not the day you were hoping for on the golf course, but with all of the distractions, can't be helped, can it? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, it's worked out and I wanted to play here and enjoyed playing here obviously but there's other more important things for me, personally, here this week than my own performance, and there's the performance of others across the pond and also here, which is much more important for the sake of European golf than it is my performance here this week. Q. Missing the cut gives you more time to think; is that a good thing or a bad thing? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I've been thinking for two years. I've thought enough and we are almost there with it. I do wish the guys in the States success, and also, here, over the weekend. It might well change. I see Molinari there, the one that's not in, Edoardo, he's doing well, 5-under, and opportunities of course to do well at the last -- there's a cheer, it might well be for him. He's doing the best to make the team on his own merit without looking for a pick. So all credit to him, and for Jiménez to be 5-under, as well, he's doing well. So we just wait and see what happens. Q. Thoughts on Francesco making the team? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Very good for him. He's been very consistent. He's one of our best, if not the best, from tee-to-green this year and all credit to him. I know it was a disappointing way to learn how to make your first Ryder Cup Team with one of your contenders having to pull out in Ross McGowan, but at the same time, Ross had a great go at it in his early season, and I'm sure he'll be a Ryder Cup player in the future. But all credit to Francesco for making the team and becoming the second Italian. We wait to see the opinions of me and others as to see what happens to his brother. Q. Barclays obviously does not count towards the World Points list, but we know you're paying close attention? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, I'll watch it again tonight from home. I obviously knew the scores yesterday. Pádraig did very well to get to 4-under, dropped a few to get to 2-under par and Casey came back from being 1-over to get to 2-under par and he did well, and Luke Donald also under par. So, yeah, they are doing okay. They are playing consistent golf as I would anticipate them to do, along with the guys here. It's just I have to say, it's an impossible task to please everybody this year. I'll say that on Sunday. I'll start by saying that on Sunday. It's an impossible task to please everybody. I'd like to please everybody, of course I would, but on this occasion I can't. The only way to please everybody is if the team would have 20 players on it. It's got 12, so of course I'm going to please some and displease others, I suppose and that's the way of the world, I'm afraid. Well, they have obviously started earlier today than they did yesterday and they are doing well. I knew they might. It makes the job tougher in many ways and easier in others. So we just have to wait and see what happens. But I was sure that Pádraig, when his back's to the wall, he's done awfully well in the past, and you know, so all credit to him for showing some form when he has to. And the guys here, they have all done very well. Simon Dyson is still there, Edoardo Molinari is still there. We have Jiménez that's come and played very well. He's in the Top-10 himself. I think it's been assumer that everyone is performing to the best of their ability and I just said to SKY TV there that unfortunately, I can't please everybody, I just can't. And I would love to, of course, I would; I would love to pick 20 players and that's the only way I can please everybody and I can't on this occasion and I have to leave out some good, good players, some winners. It's a good headache to have and it's the first time the European captain can talk, in that terminology, that terminology of such strength and that's our tour right now. So I just look forward to Sunday, I do, with loads of positives, I look forward to Sunday. Yes, you know, the guys I have to leave out, it's been a positive year for them all and I wish them success in two years' time, or the guys that I miss out, but it's just the way it has worked out this year. Q. Do you plan to get out on the course tomorrow to see these guys up close? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I will on Sunday. I will on Sunday. I'll be doing my homework again on Saturday tomorrow. I'll get on the computer and I'll work out everything so that I am up to speed. I am, anyway, but up to speed. You can ask me any questions you want on Sunday, and I will have the answers for you, and that's only right in my position that I have the answers for the guys that you ask about, the guys I haven't selected, and the guys that I have. And I will be up to speed on every question that you guys are wishing to ask on Sunday night. Q. Are obviously not surprised by Pádraig's form in America; did you ask him to show you a bit of form at the PGA? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I have for the last couple of months, and I was very interested in the way Pádraig reacted to taking six at the last to miss the cut by one; within five minutes of signing his card, he was on the range (laughter). Christ, that says a lot about what he wants to do and wants to achieve. That says a lot. Q. We will know the team on Sunday night; do you think the Americans pull a stroke by naming their players a few days after knowing what our team is? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Let me put it this way. I don't think I would be selecting a team on knowing theirs. I think Corey will pick his Top-12 and I'm picking my Top-12. I think that's the way it goes. I would have liked in a perfect world the same as the Americans in that another week of that FedEx competition. Corey has the advantage of looking at the first two weeks of the FedEx competition to see who is on form and pick the guys that are right on form. I am doing this slightly earlier, but at the same time, they have had a year to qualify. They have had enough time to make the team, those who are trying to make it. So in saying that, it doesn't really mean that much, but obviously, any captain would like as much time as possible. Q. So you think the formula you've been handed and working with is going to yield the 12 best players in Europe for your team? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It should. There's no reason why it shouldn't. The nine that qualify has been the toughest qualifying team to make and I think the three picks will add to those, and I think at this stage, he will be fielding the Top-12 players in Europe at Celtic Manor, yes, I do. Q. Players not staying in Europe, will you want to get them together at all? There are tournaments coming up, maybe not the strongest competitions -- COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You mean KLM, Austria, Vivendi? Q. Will you talk to them about their schedules before Celtic Manor? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I haven't talked to them but I will be writing to them on Monday morning a traditional letter from the captain that I have received on eight occasions. And it's my job to write to every player that's qualified for the team, whether they have been selected or otherwise, they are now members of the team. They are all ranked the same now. And I'll be writing to every one of them to ask them what their schedules are, to be playing in certain tournaments and I don't envisage any problems with that. There's only Lee Westwood that would be obviously differing from that schedule. Q. Graeme obviously suffered a reaction to winning his first major, Martin has not played since? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, that doesn't concern me. I think Graeme and Martin are world players and will be great assets to the team. Martin is a rookie, and Graeme in his second Ryder Cup, so I feel that there's no worries about taking a slight break after the successes that they have shown this year. End of FastScripts |
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