INTENSE competition for Europe's two wild card places in Nick Faldo's team to face the USA in the Ryder Cup next month yesterday provoked Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter to exchange barbed comments from opposite sides of the Atlantic.The deepening feeling of antagonism between the rivals was a far cry from the state of harmony Europe wishes to take to Kentucky.
Earlier this week the Scot, who is competing at Gleneagles and hasn't spoken to Faldo, remarked that Poulter, who pulled out of the Johnnie Walker and gave up an opportunity to earn an automatic spot in the team, appeared to have a hotline to t
he captain.
Before teeing up at the Deutsche Bank in Boston, Poulter said: "I really don't need to get into the Monty discussion of he seems to think I've got a hotline. The fact is I know Nick, and I've been fairly friendly with Nick since I've come on tour.
"I shouldn't stop that just because he's Ryder Cup captain. I don't need to get in the discussion of Monty's discussions. He's got enough work to do this week to try to make the side himself. He should just be getting his head down and trying to play good golf."
Told of Poulter's advice to concentrate on his golf rather than offer opinions, Montgomerie retorted: "Oh well, it's nice to be told what to do by one so young and inexperienced. Can you honestly believe he said that? The only reason we said he had a hotline to Nick Faldo was because he's the one saying it. No-one else is. He did say he'd spoken to Nick. Has anyone else said that? No. Right then, it's Nick Faldo's decision."
Having sorted out some of the technical issues behind his poor form since the French Open, Montgomerie signed for 70 and 144, two under par, at the halfway mark to "get into a position where I can hopefully do well over the weekend."
The Scot disputed the theory that he needs a victory to get into the Ryder Cup team, though he quipped that if he did win then he would have "a sporting chance" of selection. A former partner of Faldo's at the Belfry in 1993 and Oak Hill in 1995, Monty added: "Nick Faldo knows exactly what I can bring to the Ryder Cup on and off the course. I don't have to speak about that any more than I have. We've played together so often (in the Ryder Cup] that I know what he's capable of and vice versa. Knowing Nick as I do, the record he had and who he is, he will make the right decision."
On a course where soft, bumpy greens make it tricky for even the best putters to hole out smoothly, Monty reckons ball-striking will have an added value over the weekend. "It's becoming a ball-striker's tournament," he reasoned.
Poulter, who is challenging Paul Casey, Monty and Darren Clarke for one of the two wild card spots in Europe's 12-man team, hasn't been shy to blow his own trumpet lately. "If you look at my statistics over the last 12 months in relation to the other names that have been put in the potential wild card pick choice, I'm 70 points in the world rankings ahead of Paul Casey and Darren Clarke," he said. "I've played well this year, and that's all I could have done."
Montgomerie, who was GB&I's captain at the time, first fell out with Poulter in the Seve Trophy match at the Wynyard in 2005 when the pair had a disagreement on the range. Poulter was also sharp with Monty at the European Open earlier this summer. Aware the Englishman has beaten his own drum in America this week, Monty commented: "Self praise is no praise."
Poulter also wasn't best pleased with all the speculation at Gleneagles he'd been given the nod by Faldo. "I'm disgusted that people, players, media would think that Nick Faldo would be that unprofessional to have done such a thing. It's pathetic that people can even think that's the case. He's a professional, he's been a professional the last 30 years of his career and he's not going to start changing now."
As to that conversation with Faldo, Poulter added: "I told him basically that my decision was to stay here (in America] and play and I got the best answer I could have possibly got off a captain – 'You've got to do what's right for you'. That's the most respectful thing I could have wanted to hear."
In comparison, Clarke has kept his head below the parapet this week. The Ulsterman was pleased enough with 73 for 145, one under, but couldn't resist a dig at the greens on the PGA Centenary his friend Lee Westwood had suggested should be ripped up. Having missed from two feet three times, Clarke grinned: "They're sh...they're perfect."
The full article contains 832 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
