Colin Montgomerie pins faith in Sergio García to get back on course for Ryder Cup

Colin Montgomerie has moved to assure Sergio García that despite his poor form, he expects the Spaniard to be a part of his Ryder Cup team when Europe take on the United States at Celtic Manor, Newport, in October.
A dispirited García, who has fallen from No 2 in the world 18 months ago to No 32, said last week that he was playing so poorly that if he were the captain, he would not pick himself.
Montgomerie, speaking yesterday at Gleneagles — which will host the Johnnie Walker Championship in August, the final event in which players can qualify automatically for the 12-man team — said he was surprised to hear García’s words, but was unconcerned for a such a top player.
“Any team without Sergio is a weaker one and, conversely, any team with him in it is a stronger one,” Montgomerie said of a player who has often been a thorn in the side of the Americans and who, by common consent, has brought the locker room alive.
Under Nick Faldo’s captaincy at Valhalla, Kentucky, in 2008, García was a shadow of his former self. He claimed to have been unwell in the immediate build-up, but might have responded to better captaincy. Most surprising was the way in which he was taken apart in the opening singles match by Anthony Kim, who outswaggered Europe’s own king of swagger.
Montgomerie used to raise his own game to exalted levels in the Ryder Cup. But it was clever captaincy from such as Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam that drew the best out of him. Each told him they were relying on him to lead the team to victory and he revelled in the role. He seems ready to use the same technique to bring on García.
“I feel that Sergio’s form will turn around,” he said. “There are three major championships to go before selection and I am not concerned about his lack of form at this stage — although I am glad that he is.
“You can see his passion for the event. I have not spoken to him yet, but I shall be going over to the US Open [at Pebble Beach, California, in three weeks’ time] and I shall see him then.”
Montgomerie will have three captain’s picks and will announce them after the Johnnie Walker Championship. He said he hoped that all players who were in with a chance of qualifying automatically for the team would play in the event. “I expect potential team members to be here,” he said. “It would not be a black mark against them, but it is in their interest to come. There is always the risk that players at six, seven or eight in the standings could get knocked out.”
Asked if he would leave his three selections until the last moment, Montgomerie gave the impression that he would know whom he would be choosing, but added that he would leave a couple of picks until the end of the final round at Gleneagles.
“It’s not right to pick anyone until qualifying is finished,” he said. An oblique reference, perhaps, to the fact that Faldo chose Ian Poulter in 2008 even though the Englishman decided not to play at Gleneagles for the final event in which he could have qualified automatically. Many asked whether Poulter had been given the nod by Faldo and felt, therefore, that he did not need to travel to Scotland from his home in Florida. In the event, he was Europe’s most successful player and fully justified his selection.
On the American side, some are wondering whether Tiger Woods will play. His form is so scratchy that he could, like García, conceivably require a captain’s pick. Montgomerie, for one, wants him to play. “I do hope that he is in the team for the sake of the Ryder Cup,” he said. “Any win — be it a tournament or the Ryder Cup — is bigger and better when he has been playing.”
And what of Montgomerie when it is all over? “I shall return to the back benches and try to get into shape for the 2012 Ryder Cup,” he said in all seriousness. “No one has ever played in the Ryder Cup after captaining the side. I would like to do it. It’s just a matter of focusing on my game.”
Source:The times