Montgomerie Eyes Extra Ryder Cup Wildcards

European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has revealed that he will request extra wildcard selections for next year’s competition at Celtic Manor.

Paul Azinger made a similar request before leading his USA team to victory last year and ended up being able to select four wildcard players as opposed to two. This ended up being extremely beneficial to the American team.

Following suite, Montgomerie is keen to have this option available when it comes to selecting the final few members of his European team. The Scotsman said that he will definitely ‘put the case forward’ ahead of the European tour’s player meeting in Ireland next month.

In last year’s tournament, Montgomerie himself, Ross Fisher and Darren Clarke all missed out on a place in the European team. Next time though, players in similar positions could be selected as four wildcard selections can be made.

Ian Poulter and Paul Casey upset the golf odds by being controversially selected by Nick Faldo for last year’s Ryder Cup, but this ended up paying off with Poulter finishing as the competition’s top scorer.

Montgomerie will hope that his wildcard selections are as successful next year, especially if he has more than two to choose from. In a way, this would mean that the captain has even more influence on how the teams perform.

The European captain would be hand picking a third of the team if four wildcards became reality and there would be a temptation to pick players on past glories. Instead, he would have to go on who he thinks can make the best impact on the competition – much like Poulter did last year.

Montgomerie will have these decisions to make in the future, but for now he seems to be concentrating on playing. Over the next couple of months he is set to feature in the US Open and the Wales Open, so is keeping very busy.

Perhaps he wants a couple of extra wildcard spots so he can select himself to play at Celtic Manor next year!

By Thomas Rooney