The Ryder Cup always brings out the best in Colin Montgomerie. Despite his shortcomings in the major championships, Monty has been a major player at the biennial competition, arguably the best on either side of the Atlantic in the past three competitions.
Which means Bernhard Langer has some kind of decision to make this weekend at the BMW International Open in Germany.
The last spots on the European team will be decided, but no matter how well he plays, Montgomerie, 41, cannot make the team on his own. He must rely on Langer to use one of his captain's choices in order to play for Europe a seventh straight time dating to 1991. The Ryder Cup is Sept. 17-19 at Oakland Hills outside of Detroit.
It would be easy for Langer not to pick Montgomerie. Since the last of his seven consecutive European Order of Merit titles in 1999, Monty has just six worldwide victories. His best finish in a major over that period is a tie for 13th. He wasn't exempt for this year's U.S. Open or British Open, barely surviving a qualifying playoff to make the British.
And he has been beset by personal problems, which no doubt will incite some of the boors who will be in the gallery next month. That alone might be a good reason to leave him at home.
But Monty's record makes it difficult not to pick him. Despite constant taunting five years ago at Brookline, a situation that become so bad that the late Payne Stewart went into the crowd to try to quiet the offenders, Montgomerie battled Stewart to the final hole that day in a tense match. Stewart eventually conceded the 18th when the United States had clinched the Cup, and Monty claimed a 1-up victory.
Two years ago at the Belfry, Monty was the star of the European team that whipped the Americans, going 4-0-1. Overall, in 28 matches Montgomerie is 16-7-5 with a 4-0-2 record in singles.
And perhaps most prominent in Langer's mind is the fact that seven times he has partnered with Montgomerie in the Ryder Cup, and together they lost just once.
"Something tends to trigger me on Friday morning (at the Ryder Cup)," Montgomerie said. "I think there is a patriotism, but it's hating losing, really. I've always enjoyed a match-play situation more than I ever have stroke play."
There have been mixed signals from Langer. At the PGA Championship he said, given a choice between someone playing well now or previously, "I would much rather pick the guy who has confidence." But when asked specifically about Montgomerie, he said, "I have seen a lot of good stuff from Colin. He was in contention at the British Open. ... He's had a lot of other good finishes. His form is very steady and he's extremely close to being the Colin we know."
Langer has other choices. England's Luke Donald is a likely pick. Joakim Haeggman, David Howell and Paul McGinley, who holed the winning putt for Europe two years ago, have performed better than Montgomerie.
But none have Monty's experience, or moxie, in the Ryder Cup.
SOME SUMMER: Ryan Moore, 21, is no longer an obscure amateur. Not after his U.S. Amateur victory Sunday. And not after he gets to play in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open next year because of his feat. Moore, who will be a senior at UNLV, completed a summer slam of amateur golf, winning the U.S. Amateur Public Links, the Western Amateur, the NCAA Division I-A individual title and the U.S. Amateur.
Moore became one of just four males to win two USGA events in the same year, joining Chick Evans (1916 U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open), Bobby Jones (1930 U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open) and Jay Sigel (1983 U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur).
AROUND GOLF: This week's Buick Championship is a reminder of how fortunate the Tampa Bay area is to have its own PGA Tour event. The Chrysler Championship at Innisbrook was supposed to be the Buick Championship, before Buick pulled out in late 2001. Buick, which sponsors three other PGA Tour events, later signed on with this week's event, formerly known as the Greater Hartford Open, which has none of the top 25 ranked players. ... Peter Jacobsen is the defending champion in Hartford, but he will play instead in the Tradition, a Champions Tour major in his hometown of Portland.
