Monty may be forced out of Cup showdown

COLIN MONTGOMERIE last night cast fresh doubt on his participation in the Ryder Cup despite a top-10 finish in the £1.8 million Linde German Masters.

Montgomerie carded a closing round of 67 at Gut Larchenhof to finish in ninth place on 16 under, six shots behind winner Stephen Leaney of Australia.

But the former European number one revealed he was still troubled by a season-long back injury and would pull out of the contest at the Belfry if he did not feel he could play in all five series of matches, regardless of captain Sam Torrance’s wishes.

‘‘I’ve finished with a 67, played well and shot 16 under, and was 15 under for the last three rounds and that’s good,’’ said Montgomerie, who was confident on Wednesday he would be able to play all five matches as he made his first appearance since pulling out of the NEC Invitational with the back complaint three weeks ago.

‘‘There’s nothing wrong with the golf. It’s just if I can play. And if I can’t play five times for Sam I won’t go, whether he wants me to play or not.

‘‘I have to be able to play five times and I’m not sure I can. My gut feeling is I am going but it got quite painful at the end. The pain is tiring.

‘‘Hopefully I will be able to play next week [in the American Express Championships in Ireland] and therefore I will let Sam know my decision after next week.’’

Ryder Cup vice-captain Ian Woosnam, who finished in a tie for third with young English stars Paul Casey and Nick Dougherty two shots behind the winner, said he was unconcerned by Montgomerie’s latest pronouncement.

‘‘He says that all the time,’’ said Woosnam who closed with a 68 but dropped two crucial shots on the back nine. ‘‘He’ll be there.’’

Meanwhile, Leaney has had to cancel plans for a three-week holiday back home in Perth after his victory earned him £315,000, a five-year tour exemption and a place in next week’s US$5.5m American Express Championships at Mount Juliet in Ireland.

‘‘Obviously I’m off to Ireland now but I think my wife is going back to Australia for a few weeks,’’ said Leaney after claiming his fourth tour title.

‘‘I guess I’ll have some parties to catch up on when I get home.

‘‘It’s great to have that five-year exemption under my belt and great to win again.

“It’s been two years and you do wonder if you will win again and it’s nice to win a big tournament.

‘‘This is a major event on a course that I think is very difficult and to shoot the scores I did is very satisfying. It’s great to put yourself under pressure situations and hit the shots you have to hit.

‘‘I learnt a bit from last year [when he was one off the lead going into the final round and shot a 77 to finish 32nd] when I did not cope well mentally and got upset with myself.

‘‘Today I was able to stay relaxed and keep all the thoughts about exemptions and money out of my brain.’’

Leaney still plans to try and earn his United States tour card later this year, adding: ‘‘The European Tour has been very good to me and I don’t want to leave but to make myself the best player I can be you have to go to the States and play against the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson every week.’’

Casey had held a two-shot lead overnight but was soon caught and overtaken as Woosnam and Worthing’s Gary Evans birdied three of the first four holes.

Leaney then took over the lead with a superb approach to two feet giving him his fourth birdie of the day on the eighth, and he was never to be headed from then on.

The 33-year-old, who is based in Camberley in Surrey when playing the European Tour, could only manage one more birdie on the 10th to set up a tense finale.

But he held his nerve with eight straight pars while Cejka and Woosnam both dropped crucial shots on the closing stretch.

Leaney’s victory lifted him from 38th to 10th on the Order of Merit to confirm his place in next week’s lucrative event in Ireland which has a guaranteed minimum pay-out of US$ 25,000 for every player in the limited field.

The top 20 players on the money list after today qualify to play in Ireland, and Evans’s sixth-place finish was enough to move him from 23rd at the start of the week to 19th.

Faldo was not so fortunate, however, the six-time major winner remaining 21st despite a closing round of 67 that gave him a tie for 23rd place.

That would have been enough to get into the top 20 but for Leaney and Evans overtaking him.

Open championship runner-up Thomas Levet has also missed out after falling from 19th to 22nd by missing the cut in Cologne.