Captain My Captain

There seems to be a split in a Ryder Cup camp, a split between fairness and ego.

For the record I have, up to now, always been a Monty fan, up to the point I unflawed John Huggan  due to his constant anti Monty tweets. But today my admiration is waning.

Since the victory at Chicago its looked like a 3 horse race between Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, but in last 36 hours Clarke has “withdrawn” his interest and Monty has declared his interest.

There seems to be two fields of thought about this.

One, the obvious one, is Monty’s ego.

The other is that “senior” players on the tour committee want a “name” to go up against Tom Watson. If this is the case I am genuinely shocked. Since when did we pick the captain based on the American Captain?

If they genuinely wanted a “name” to go up against Watson then the obvious choice would have been Sandy Lyle. Sandy ticks all the boxes, so it seems. But it seems that the majority of us who want Sandy to captain the team are from outside golf, eg fans.

I have met Sandy twice and found him charming and amusing. Is it purely a case of Sandy sitting at the wrong table for dinner or simply he never played the politics of the European Tour?

And make no mistake this is all very political.

Was Monty an outstanding captain at Celtic Manor? To be honest I don’t think he was.

1.) Leaving out Justin Rose I still cant understand, there is no way Harrington should have been picked, on form, ahead of him.

2.) The Welsh crowds where outstanding and carried the team.

3.) The Americans suffered from poor organisation, waterproofs being the prime example.

4.) Hunter Mahan’s bottle went, simple as that.

Judging by tweets and comments made by players today, well those prepared to put their head above the parapet, McGinley is the universal choice, well either that or the players just don’t want Monty.

Paul McGinley may not be a big name, but he is well respected by the players. Those who have worked along side him in the Ryder Cup and under him in the Seve Trophy have nothing but praise for him. Surely that is more important than anything else ??

But its not down to the players, the media or the fans, its all down to one committee, held behind closed doors.

I honestly fear that the coup between the senior players and team Monty is complete and we will soon have the declaration of  Captain Montgomerie’s second coming.

The biggest beneficiaries of this?? The Americans.

There may be an I in captain but there is no I in team.

Europe succeed because they unite as a team, Monty as captain again will split the team, lets hope common sense might prevail during the vote.

Now will someone now explain to me why Sandy Lyle is not getting the job?