Uneasy Ryde: Pavin and Monty grilled by press
There were fireworks at yesterday's pre-PGA Championship press conference with Ryder Cup captains Corey Pavin and Colin Montgomerie, as both men came under scrutiny for some alleged ill-advised behaviour.
At least Pavin's problems remained grounded purely in sporting matters, though that didn't prevent the US captain from engaging in handbags with golf journalist Jim Gray following his meeting with the press.
Pavin had earlier become embroiled in a disagreement regarding everyone's favourite talking point, Tiger Woods, with sports television network contributor Gray claiming yesterday that Pavin had told him he definitely intended to choose Woods as one of his wild-card picks for the Ryder Cup, should the world No. 1 fail to qualify automatically for the tournament.
The man nick-named "Crazy" Pavin refuted that assertion a few hours later, stating via a message released on his Twitter account: "For the record, Jim Gray has misquoted me re: picking Tiger. I never said such a thing and will not say a thing until 09/07" - September 7th being the date when Pavin is due to name his captain's picks for the Ryder Cup.
Pavin expanded on that comment at yesterday's press conference, telling the assembled journalists: "Let's straighten this out right now. I had a conversation with Jim Gray yesterday and he asked me a few questions and his interpretation of what I said is incorrect."
"There's nobody that's promised any picks right now. It would be disrespectful to everybody that's trying to make the team. I've got quite a few people I'm looking at. I would not disrespect any of the players that are potential players on the team, and obviously there was a misinterpretation of what I said, and that is an incorrect quote."
If that was supposed to be the end of it, the disagreement continued following the conference, with Gray allegedly confronting Pavin to accuse him of lying before apparently yelping, somewhat ludicrously: "you're going down!"
But while Pavin's encounter proved a little uncomfortable, that was nothing compared to the grief Montgomerie might have expected following new, if unsubstantiated rumours about the Scot's private life. As it was, Monty brazened things out to a lesser or greater degree, although the 47-year-old may regret choosing to be quite so frank in discussing Tiger Woods' situation earlier this year.
While most professionals did their utmost to play the golfing equivalent of a flat bat whenever broached on the subject, Montgomerie was happy to tell the world that revelations about Woods' private life would surely affect the golfer's "aura of invincibility". Fair comment, but one that leaves the outspoken European captain open to similar criticism. Even if Montgomerie has never quite enjoyed such an aura, his position as the man charged with leading his continent to success at Celtic Manor looks just a tad vulnerable right now.
Montgomerie appeared to have weathered earlier revelations about marital indiscretions this summer, as news of an affair appeared in the Daily Mirror in June. But now further stories are doing the rounds, allegedly accompanied with photographs - that's according to golf journalist David Feherty, who appeared on a radio show yesterday claiming Montgomerie had obtained an injunction to prevent details being published in a Sunday tabloid.
Yesterday the golfer was having none of it, saying: "I know a lot of you are having a lot of fun right now at my expense.
"I can categorically say that there's no injunction against the News of the World. I'm really not going to discuss this any further. All I can say is categorically there is no injunction against the News of the World regarding anything. I apologise for this, that you have to bring this up, but at the same time, no further comments from myself on that matter."
Asked whether the story could damage his reputation amongst the players on his team, Monty said there was "no issue here at all."
Elsewhere the European captain admitted that in Pavin's position, he would choose Tiger to be part of his team, commenting, to laughter: "Oh, that's a very difficult, dangerous, and undiplomatic question. But of course I'd pick him, yes." Pavin jokingly made a note of Montgomerie's advice.
The Scot also reiterated that Lee Westwood would likely be okay to appear at Celtic Manor in October, saying of Westwood: "He will be hitting balls in four weeks, which is great news for everybody in Europe. He's our top-ranked player and our Ryder Cup Team will be greatly weakened if he didn't make it. So I'm delighted that he is going to hit balls within four weeks, and that gives him still another couple of weeks to prepare."
Westwood looks a certainty, then. The same can probably be said of Tiger Woods, even if Pavin isn't admitting as much. Montgomerie may even be in the clear too - assuming there are no more stories in the pipeline, of course.
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