"Montgomerie puts his foot down to stop slow players"

And there's a lot of weight behind...wait, no fat jokes when slow play is on the table.

Martin Dempster says that Monty hopes to work with Corey Pavin to continue the Faldo-Azinger Ryder Cup ban on practice putting, which mysteriously was not implemented at Harding Park for last week's Presidents Cup.

Of course, Monty's reasoning does make you wonder if even the ban will prevent the unthinkable: not finishing matches due to a lack of daylight.

Due to the fact the biennial match is being held at the start of October – a fortnight later than normal – there are concerns about being able to complete the two sessions that are played on the first two days to the light.

Montgomerie, for one, is well aware of that fact and the European captain will be urging his players to do everything in their power to ensure that matches don't have to be concluded the following day.

"We have to get round as quickly as we can next October. It is two weeks later than normal and a lost half an hour will be the difference between finishing a game or not. The latter is not the type of message we should be putting across to club golfers. We should be playing quicker than them because it's not as though we are having to look for golf balls."

I like this Monty:

"My players will not be practising their putting once the match is underway," insisted Montgomerie. "They'll have had three days to do that earlier in the week."