Perfecting a European union

LATER this evening, Colin Montgomerie and his three Ryder Cup vice captains, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke, will sit down to dinner in Monty’s luxurious home five miles from Gleneagles.

In many ways, they make unlikely guests. Bjorn once described Montgomerie as “an adult behaving like a three year-old” while Clarke has not always been complimentary about the Scot.

However, they insist that is all in the past and they are now working on a common cause – trying to find the best possible European team to take back the Ryder Cup from the United States at Celtic Manor in October.