Monty and Donald make Cup team
Colin Montgomerie can prepare to face the might of America again after he finally got the news he was waiting for tonight – he will win a seventh Ryder Cup cap in Detroit next month.
And uncapped Englishman Luke Donald will be there alongside him after being handed captain Bernhard Langer’s other wild card.
It meant joy for them but huge disappointment for Swede Fredrik Jacobson, the fourth highest-ranked European in the world after Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke.
In a cup career going back to 1991, 41-year-old Montgomerie has never needed a wild card before but, having been Europe’s unbeaten top-scorer at The Belfry two years ago, it would have shocked the golfing world – including many of his team-mates – if he had been left out.
The Scot has risen to the Ryder Cup stage so often that Langer (his partner in three matches, including the 2002 victory) would have needed a very good reason to overlook him in favour of two cup rookies.
And once Montgomerie showed form in the final qualifying event in Munich, finishing joint third, there was simply no reason.
Never beaten in Ryder Cup singles and with the best record of any European who has played more than once – 16 wins and five halves in 28 games – his presence is probably the last thing America’s star-studded team wanted.
They would have been delighted not to see Montgomerie walking to the first tee at Oakland Hills on September 17 and that alone justified Langer’s choice.
At 70th in the world he may be the lowest-ranked player in the match, but he is the one held in the highest respect as an opponent and he has never let Europe down.
Donald, winner of seven out eight points in his Walker Cup career, is an undoubted star of the future but Langer has given his head now.
He already has victories on both the European and US Tours – Jacobson has yet to win in America – but well though he played for three rounds of both the US PGA and NEC world championship this month, the 26-year-old from High Wycombe faded on the final day.
Donald’s inclusion means that both sides will have five debutants. The 26-year-old joins fellow Englishmen Paul Casey, David Howell and Ian Poulter - all three clinched their places in a nail-biting finish in Munich – and also Thomas Levet.
The Frenchman, who qualified last week along with Harrington, Garcia, Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Lee Westwood, was runner-up in the BMW International, with Jimenez winning the title by two to underline what good form most of Langer’s team are in.
It is a side Langer feels are perfectly capable of making a successful defence of the trophy – but it is the first one since 1981 which does not contain a single major champion.
There are six changes from the one that triumphed at The Belfry, Thomas Bjorn, Phillip Price, Niclas Fasth, Pierre Fulke, Jesper Parnevik and Langer himself being replaced by the new caps and the returning Jimenez.
On paper, the United States will be strong favourites. They have five major winners in Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love, Jim Furyk and David Toms - Woods with eight, the rest with one each – and have 10 players in the world’s top 30 against Europe’s four.
But underdogs Europe have risen to such a challenge before. Amazingly, America have won only three of the last nine clashes and have lost three of the last four.
Langer accepted it was a huge disappointment for Jacobson, who had played himself into the team earlier today at the BMW International Open only to lose it over the closing holes.
“He has had an outstanding year and has played well all year long,” he said.
“If he had been two or three or maybe one shot better today he would have been in the team outright – that is how close we came.
“You can’t get any closer than him.
“But when I looked at the golf course we would be facing at Oakland Hills I had to come to a decision who would serve the team best from a playing standpoint and who would fit into the team
“I came up with Colin and Luke and I think they will perform as well if not better than the others.
“They are the best men for the job.”
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