Monty wants Ryder Cup stars at home

EUROPEAN Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie expects everybody still fighting for a Ryder Cup place to be in Scotland rather than America in the last week of qualifying.

Two years ago Ian Poulter caused a furore when he stayed in the States when he still could have got into the side on points by playing at Gleneagles in the Johnnie Walker Championship.

Nick Faldo stuck to his guns by picking Poulter, but whether Montgomerie – one of those who spoke out about the Englishman’s absence – hands anyone a wildcard in the same scenario now remains to be seen.

“I want to see them showing support for European golf and the European Tour and I will be very, very surprised if they are not there,” said the Scot yesterday at Celtic Manor, where the Wales Open tees off today. Celtic Manor is also the venue for October’s Ryder Cup.

“I am convinced that I will have around eight candidates for three spots.

“You can count on those eight playing at Gleneagles. They will be there.”

It is not just any event in the States the same week, however.

It is the first of the four FedEx Cup play-off series events – a series that offers a €10 million reward – and among those likely to have qualified are Poulter, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Pádraig Harrington, Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Brian Davis.

Poulter and McIlroy have just about done enough to make it into the side on points already – as has Lee Westwood, who is not a US Tour member – and so will avoid Montgomerie’s wrath by being there, but the others need a strong summer.

Garcia, an ever-present in the side since he became the youngest-ever cup player at the age of 19 in 1999, said last week: “The Ryder Cup is important, but you can’t change your whole schedule for it.”

Donald, meanwhile, commented: “That will be a tough call, whether I can afford to miss a play-off event. I’ll have to take it as it comes.”

Montgomerie added: “Knowing that the two wild card selections last time (Casey was the other, but he could not get in on points by then) were not at Gleneagles you would anticipate that the all the so-called possibilities will be playing at Gleneagles, yes.’ Pressed on the matter, however, he was not prepared to state that any of those not present were ruling themselves out of a wild card pick.

At least Donald has earned some Brownie points by turning up for this week’s event.

Montgomerie wanted to see as many cup candidates as possible in the field, but of the top eight Europeans in the current world rankings only Donald and German Martin Kaymer are present.

Six of the present top nine in the points standings – Montgomerie has three wild cards this time compared to Faldo’s two – are uncapped players.

McIlroy heads that list and is playing at the Memorial tournament in Ohio, but the other five – Ross McGowan, Kaymer, Simon Dyson, Francesco Molinari and Alvaro Quiros – have a golden opportunity to impress, as do the likes of Welsh hope Rhys Davies and Simon Khan.

For Donald this is the last of a three-week stretch in Europe and it has so far brought him a second place behind Khan at Wentworth and then victory last Sunday at the Madrid Masters.