Europeans set sights on Ryder Cup
Just because they didn’t win the British Open doesn’t mean that U.K. golfers are in a rut. In fact the European Ryder Cup team is looking strong, says Colin Montgomerie, and he reflects on his and fellow countrymen’s time at the British Open.
“It's been a fabulous year for British golf," said Montgomerie in an interview after the Open wrapped up on Sunday, though he himself didn’t put up much of a fight in the final two rounds of the tournament. Montgomerie shot a 74 and 73 this weekend and was 20 shots behind winner Louis Oosthuizen. All is not lost for old Monty however, and the captain of the European side for the 2010 Ryder Cup has high hopes for the competition that will be held in Wales this time around.
"I can pick two teams here that can beat each other on any given day," Montgomerie said. "That's the strength and that's the depth of European golf, especially this year."
Every European Ryder Cup regular was in contention at St Andrews, except Irishman Padraig Harrington who didn’t make the cut. There were several promising newcomers on the course as well. Lee Westwood shot 70 on Sunday to take second place seven strokes behind Oosthuizen. Rory McIlroy, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson all shot 68 on Sunday to finish eight under for the tournament.
McIlroy, a 21-year-old North Ireland player, held the lead after the first day. He achieved the course-record on the opening day, a 63 scored in perfect conditions. His luck didn’t continue however and his second round 80 marred his Open chances. McIlroy has never played in a Ryder Cup and is exactly the type of young ambitious player the team needs. McIlroy is one of Europe’s greatest untapped resources, from a golf perspective, and will be one of their most potent weapons in the Cup at Celtic Manor.
A significant disappointment was Casey’s poor finish, a triple bogey 7 on the 12th hole, bogey on the 15th, and no birdie on the easy 18th. Had Casey avoided this disastrous final round Montgomerie estimated he would have finished among the top nine qualifiers. Casey shot 40 on the back nine right before Montgomerie commented that he didn’t “want to have to waste picks on world stars like Paul Casey.”
Expected Ryder Cup rookie Martin Kaymer also had a disappointing round, bogeying his last three holes on Sunday, but ultimately ended up in seventh place at six under.
Montgomerie can take heart in knowing that the American Ryder Cup players were well back in the ranks after the weekend concluded. Tiger Woods’ round four 72 got him a tie for 23rd and Phil Mickelson (74), John Daly (73), Stewart Cink (74) and Lucas Glover (76) all tied for 48th place.
"I certainly wish Americans had played better in general," said U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin. Pavin was not at the Open; he flew into London this weekend and will be leading the U.S. side against Europe in the Senior British Open at Carnoustie this week.
Ian Poulter is eating his words somewhere in an English pub by now. The 34-year-old was interviewed a couple weeks ago by the Guardian UK and made several harsh statements about the state of American golf, and how European players were better and thus had far greater chances of winning the Claret Jug,
“The Americans have a gap and that gap is being filled by European guys right now, guys who are in their late 20s, early 30s and who are doing the job right now. . . In five years' time we should have taken a few majors. I don't want to put a number on it but the [English] guys that are in the top 40 in the world are all capable of winning them. It's for us to go out there and prove it, but we can certainly win one or two a year, for sure."
Too bad none of those guys could get it right this weekend.
Although Poulter was running his mouth a bit in the interview, he is correct in assessing the dominance of the Europeans in PGA and European Tour events. Poulter finished T60 for the weekend.
Even though the Brits couldn’t win their own Open, Montgomerie isn’t worried about the state of British golf:
"We've had our first British winner of the U.S. Open for 40 years, Lee Westwood almost won the Masters, we're contending here again, and who says we won't do so again at the U.S. PGA in a month's time.”
Prepare for another British invasion.
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