They Did It For Their Good Old Buddy Monty!

It's just downright touching to read all of these European golfers fessing up that their authentic motivation in securing the cup was all in the name of their beloved father figure Captain, Monty. Lawrence Donegan explains how many overcame their fervent dislike for the man to get the Cup back in European hands.

“We wanted to do it for Monty,” said Pádraig Harrington after Sam Ryder’s coveted bauble had been returned to European hands. “I think everybody in the team was aware this was the one opportunity he would get to really cap off an unbelievable Ryder Cup career and we didn’t want to let him down.”

Uh huh.

“Going into singles I told the captain, put me wherever you want, I will get you a point. And I did,” the Englishman said last night, beaming. Montgomerie beamed back. Friends reunited, Ryder Cup-style.
And there was more of the same yesterday, as the 2010 captain identified Jose Maria Olazabal as his preferred candidate for the 2012 captaincy at Medinah.

“I think he has watched what was done this time and he has notes over his playing career the same as mine. We both played eight Ryder Cups – and a lot of them together – so he has a lot of experience, as much as I have, and he will do as good, if not a better job than I did,” he said.

Eighteen months ago Montgomerie and Olazabal were not speaking, choosing instead to air a misunderstanding about the offer of a vice-captaincy to the Spaniard for the Celtic Manor match through various media outlets. But when the call for help went out, as it did when bad weather forced the captains to put six pairings out on the course at the same time, Olazabal, on site as an “ambassador” for a coffee-machine company, gladly accepted his battlefield promotion.