Montgomerie's Ryder Cup hopefuls skip final qualifiers
Colin Montgomerie's famously combustible temperament may be put to the test in the next few weeks, as several of the most high profile candidates for his Ryder Cup team opt to add to their wallets, rather than their points total for the competition.
With Lee Westwood currently recuperating from a ruptured calf muscle but expected to be fit for Celtic Manor in October, the other players in the automatic qualifying places of Montgomerie's team include Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher, Francesco Molinari, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Paul Casey.
But some of those names can change, with two qualifying tournaments still to go - this week's Czech Open and next week's Johnny Walker Championship at Gleneagles. That's two tournaments where the likes of Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose could attempt to force their way into the automatic qualifying places. Except none of those players intend to compete.
As with so many things in sport, the reason boils down to money. All three of the above named players, along with Casey, who currently holds the final automatic qualification place, have opted to stay in the US this week. Each man is preparing for next week's Barclays, the first play-off for September's FedEx Cup, which offers the winner a $10million bonus prize.
In all likelihood, it's not that Harrington, Rose, Casey and Donald have no interest in playing at the Ryder Cup; more realistically, with the option to play for a massive cash prize, each man probably believes he's already done enough to stake his claim for a place on the team through a captain's wild-card pick.
Rose has won twice on the PGA Tour this year, and in any case cannot play himself into the top nine places of the Ryder Cup qualifiers now anyway. Donald has won once this year in Europe while also playing consistently enough to rise to his current position of world No. 10. Casey is a place better at No. 9, with five top-10 finishes including a tie for third place at the Open. Even Harrington, yet to win in 2010, has five top-10 finishes this year.
Those who place an emphasis on team players - and Monty is certainly among them - may be disappointed to see the four place personal gain over a chance to fight for their place on the team. More trenchantly, if results in the next two weeks see Paul Casey pushed out of the automatic rankings then Montgomerie will find himself forced to leave out at least one of those four players from his selection.
Certainly, Edoardo Molinari could be a worthy surprise pick. Last year's World Cup winner along with his brother Francesco, who already looks to have made the team, could still squeeze out one of the other, more high profile hopefuls.
That's assuming Montgomerie doesn't cast the lot out into the wilderness in a fit of pique, choosing instead to go with players who can actually be bothered turning up for the qualifying events. As hot-headed as the Scot can sometimes be, can he really afford to leave out some of the finest Europeans currently playing the game, choosing instead to back his team players rather than his talented upstarts?
We'll find out for sure in September.
Tags: