Waiting on Monty's Pass

Golf is essentially an individual sport, which is what makes the Ryder Cup such an interesting event. The team element of the first two days - the foursomes and fourballs competitions, requires players to add a level of co-operation and negotiation to their game that is otherwise unnecessary on the usual tour. A terrific singles player, be it match play or stroke play, is not always the best Ryder Cup player and vice versa - Tiger Woods and 2010 European Captain Colin Montgomerie being respective cases in point.

This year, we are at Celtic Manor, which I can testify to being a pretty grim golf course (it is in Wales after all), as Europe seek to reclaim the cup they lost in Valhalla two years ago, when some of Nick Faldo's captaincy decisions backfired in a spectacular way. The selection process is now down to the sharp end, with the final qualifying tournaments taking place this week. To my understanding, the European qualifying regulations are pretty straightforward. The top four in the world rankings get an automatic spot. This is where we look particularly strong, with major winners Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowall, along with Lee Westwood and Rory McIllroy, both of whom have been there or thereabouts at big tournaments recently. Then we have the next five highest ranked players on the European list. Two of these have been confirmed as self-styled World No.2 Ian Poulter and fellow Englishman Ross Fisher. The other three will be decided by the end of the week and are likely to be Francesco Moliniari, Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jiminez, barring some serious turn-ups!

Now we come to the part that's making all the headlines this week. Monty has been quoted as saying the final three picks (the wild cards) are proving nigh on impossible to make. I think you may be exaggerating a touch there old boy, as Peter Alliss might say. At the end of the day, you do not even need to be considering the selections until the culmination of the week's play, so that you know exactly who is currently in and who is not. And then it simply comes down to selecting the three players you think best fit around the players you already have. Hardly Mission Impossible!

Here is the problem - Monty does not want to upset any "big names". If you pick the form guys, big names will have to suffer, that is the way of professional sport - guys like Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia have not been good enough recently to merit a spot. The same goes for Luke Donald. It's an easy call for me - Justin Rose, who has been consistenly placing well on the PGA Tour, Edoardo Moliniari, winner of the Scottish Open and one who would form an obvious partnership with his brother and Paul Casey - who has an excellent match play record. There Monty, that wasn't too difficult was it?

So come on, grow a pair (of balls, not breasts - you've already got those). Don't be afraid of upsetting people, you can't please everyone as a captain. Stop spouting off to the press about how hard the choices are going to be, in order to protect bruised egos, they really aren't difficult at all. I've kind of just proven it!

RM