Monty would be one of my first names for Ryder Cup
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MY message to Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo is clear: pick Colin Montgomerie.
The cup is little more than a month away, and the tournaments looming will make or break many players’ ambitions.
Luke Donald appears to be falling out of contention as he continues to struggle to recover from his wrist injury, and there are any number of players who will feel they should be Nick’s picks to take on the Americans at Valhalla.
Montgomerie does not appear to be many people’s favourite, but he would be one of the first names on my team.
His record in the competition over the years has been simply incredible. Form, on these occasions, does not matter as much as drive and determination and when it comes to the cup, Montgomerie has been the best over the years and I think he still has more in him.
Whether Faldo, who has always been his own man, decides Monty can lead the team to victory one more time remains to be seen.
The focus of many of the leading European players has switched across the pond for the World Golf Champion-ships event at Firestone in Ohio.
Scheduling meant many of our leading lights gave Moscow a miss last week.
It’s understandable but also a shame as the Russian Open was a great tournament played on a fantastic course.
I only decided to enter because I felt in good form and with a couple of holiday weeks ahead I wanted to give myself every chance to improve my rankings. The course was very American in style, but without the rough but still posed a really strong challenge.
Most of the holes were risk and reward and it was a good week. My return was not so good, via Germany it should have ended with a flight to Edinburgh, only for us to be redirected to Prestwick.
The Senior Open champion-ship did not merit much coverage over in Russia which is a shame as it would have been great to watch the likes of Tom Watson and Greg Norman continue their love affair with the links.
Bruce Vaughan deserves all the credit for holding off a host of leading names to take the tournament, and for one member of the Gallacher clan it was a more than special week.
I have never had the pleasure of meeting Greg Norman, but my nephew Christopher Hair had the fortune to carry the scoreboard for Norman, Tom Watson and Sandy Lyle during the first two rounds of the tournament.
He has not been slow in telling me all about it.
My next tournament outing will be the Scandinavian Masters in Sweden in a couple of weeks, before then I will be able to spend some time with my family, both in Arran and then up in Aviemore, and after playing 11 out of the last 13 weeks, it will be good to spend some time away from tournament golf.
But I will be keeping a close eye on proceedings, hoping Monty is the man for captain Nick.
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