Ryder Cup rumpus - Nick narked with captain Monty
Colin Montgomerie might be getting on in years, but the 47-year-old still has the reputation of a man who stubbornly protracts arguments when it would be easier to defuse them - see those silly spats with Ian Poulter in the last few years.
Now the Scot has succeeded in getting former European Ryder Cup captain Sir Nick Faldo's dander up, even if Monty himself is adamant this latest falling out is all a misunderstanding.
Ryder Cup followers will recall that Faldo failed in his bid to guide Europe to victory in 2008. Nonetheless, the six-time major winner still feels - with some justification - that he has experience and advice worth imparting to Monty, who succeeded Faldo as European captain at Celtic Manor this October.
But Faldo has admitted he feels Montgomerie has snubbed him, after the Englishman wrote a letter to Monty offering to meet up and discuss the forthcoming competition - and received no reply. This despite the fact that the pair were in close proximity this past week, when both men were contenders in the BMW International Open in Munich.
Faldo told newspapers: "I didn't want just to make my views known to him just through the media. So I wrote to Monty three weeks ago suggesting we meet up for a chat, but I have not had a reply. I don't think there's any need to say any more. It says it all."
What it says to us is that Faldo hasn't become any less highly strung in his dotage - but more importantly, what is captain Monty's take? Montgomerie insists he still intends to speak to Faldo, saying he will "take the opportunity, hopefully the next time we're together," and adding that he would "leave no stone unturned" in his bid to guide Europe to a win over the USA.
This isn't the first time the pair have found themselves at loggerheads, with Faldo publicly criticising his successor three years ago when he described Montgomerie as "difficult" during the 2007 Seve Trophy. Monty was not a member of Faldo's 2008 team at the Ryder.
While Montgomerie's game is in decline, his record at the Ryder Cup is impressive, with a total points tally scored of 23.5 - that's just 1.5 points behind the all-time record for points attained at the competition, which, coincidentally, is held by Faldo.
Montgomerie's game hasn't attracted many headlines in recent months - he's failed to finish in the top 10 of any competition in the last two years - but Monty himself has continued to figure in the press, the Scot admitting to cheating on his wife with an ex-lover, releasing a statement earlier this month in which he apologised for putting his marriage under "considerable strain."
Under the circumstances, perhaps Monty just has more on his mind than meeting up with the guy who dropped him from the Ryder Cup last time out. Still, Monty has at least made it clear he plans to meet up with Faldo before the competition begins.
Whether he'll be paying much attention to the Englishman's advice seems less certain.
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