Colin Montgomerie won’t be finished with the Ryder Cup after his captaincy is completed at Celtic Manor in October he’s aiming to be the first European to make the team after he has been captain at Medinah in 2012.
The Scot (46) believes that once the distractions of a year with “a hell of a lot going on” are behind him he can return to the levels he enjoyed just three years ago.
He said, “After the Ryder Cup is over this year, I will go to the ‘back benches’ and start trying to my game back in shape to qualify for the 2012 Ryder Cup that’s the goal.
“No European captain has played in the Ryder Cup after captaining, and I want to be the first person to do that.”
He added, “I’ll need to improve quite a bit, I’ve lost my consistency. My good shots are as good as they were, there’s just fewer of them sometimes none at all.
“There’s a lot of meetings at the moment, a hell of a lot going on, it takes away from practice that has to be done and my competitors, most of them younger than I am, are probably practising right now.”
Once this year’s Ryder Cup is out of the way, and once Montgomerie and wife Gaynor are settled into their rebuilt home in Dunning, he will be able to focus on “what I do best my golf game.”
He said, “It’s only three years ago I had one shot to win the US Open at Winged Foot.
“There’s no reason why I can’t get back to that level of performance.”Showing at Johnnie WalkerMonty is enthused about the next few months and the team that will be known when he makes his three picks in the aftermath of the Johnnie Walker Championship on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles.
That course underwent a drainage overhaul in the winter as part of the development programme for when it is the Ryder Cup host venue in 2014.
“We’re guaranteed to have the strongest field here we’ve ever had,” said Montgomerie, chairman of the championship at Gleneagles.
“I foresee us having number five through to number 30 on the points list competing here, so it’ll be very interesting as you’ll have little tournaments within the main tournament going on.”
He added, “The guy who won here by 10 shots would get a big tick in his column.
“It wouldn’t be a black mark against guys who didn’t choose to play here if they were in that position, but it would be noted.”
Montgomerie is happy with the team as it looks so far, with three majors and one world championship still to play.
He said, “I think that I will leave a couple of my picks until the last round here is finished.
“I have to give everyone an opportunity to qualify right up until the end of the qualification period it’s not right to pick players before then.””Bigger event” with TigerMonty added that he expected Sergio Garcia, who admitted this week he wouldn’t pick himself on current form, would still come good.
He said, “Any team without Sergio is a weaker one. I feel his form will turn around, you see the passion he has for the Ryder Cup and I’m sure that will shine through towards the end of the season.
“I could pick a Team B that could beat Team A a lot of the time. I’m not concerned about Sergio’s lack of form, but I’m glad that he is.”
Monty hopes and expects that Tiger Woods will make the US team or be a wildcard of captain Corey Pavin, adding, “I hope he does get over his problems, it’s going to be a better, bigger event with him in it and it would be a bigger and better win for Europe with him against us.”
Living at Gleneagles for a year has given Montgomerie an appreciation of the work that has gone on in improving the PGA Centenary Course after some criticism in recent years.
He said, “Some players are too quick to criticise, I thought the criticism of Wentworth last week was unjustified.
“It is a better test than it was before and, like here, they have put in investment which all courses need.”
He added, “You didn’t hear Peter Hedblom or Marc Warren complaining when they won the Johnnie Walker they adapted to the different conditions because that’s part of the process of professional golf.”