In an ideal world Colin Montgomerie would be able to dedicate himself to making sure his 21st Open Championship in a row is a memorable one.
Such has been his season to date, his game could certainly do with some attention.
As Ryder Cup captain, however, the Scot knows only too well that the Celtic Manor clash with the USA in September can never be kept far from his thoughts, or those of everyone else in the golfing fraternity.
For Montgomerie yesterday was the day to get all things Ryder Cup out of his system for the week-or so he hopes.
He said, “Ninety-nine per cent of the questions I get asked just now are to do with the Ryder Cup, which is understandable, because everybody wants to talk about it, including the players.”
One of those players is Padraig Harrington, who currently finds himself out of the qualifying places for the European team.
The former Ryder Cup playing partners chatted on the practice range on Monday morning and Montgomerie is confident that he will not have to use one of his three captain’s picks on the two-time Open champion.
He pointed out, “The Ryder Cup points table gets more and more interesting by the week.
“I’ve spoken with Padraig and he knows what he has to do. I’m convinced he’ll pull through. I’m not overly worried about Padraig.”
Montgomerie has chosen to wait until next week to announce his vice-captains, but he revealed that he already knows who his right-hand men will be.
“I’ve made up my mind,” he said. “There will be a minimum of three. You’ve got to be careful you don’t get too many people, thereby diluting opinions.
“But at the same time you have to make sure you get enough good advice from people who I respect and who the team will respect.”
It goes without saying that if Harrington manages to make it three Opens in four years by triumphing at St Andrews this week, that will be more than sufficient to secure his place in Wales in October.
Winning two Claret Jugs certainly hasn’t diminished his appetite.
The Irishman said, “I want to go out and win more majors. It’s all about getting the next one.
“After winning majors you focus on them, think about them, and then you just want to go out and do it again.
“Having won three, it’s all about winning the fourth.
“I’m sure when I had none, if somebody had told me I was going to win three I would have said, ‘Thank you very much, I’ll take that.’
“I played a practice round at a major a few years ago with one of Europe’s most experienced winners who was a very intense individual and I asked him why he didn’t sit back and enjoy his majors. But he said he was always saying to himself, ‘Just one more.’
Harrington, who will be conferred with an honorary degree at St Andrews University today and is taking part in the Champions Challenge tomorrow, has been drawn to play with Tom Watson when the main event starts on Thursday.Watson fanAt Turnberry last year, after it became clear he wasn’t going to make it an Open hat-trick, he admitted he was, like almost every other golf fan across the world, willing Watson on to victory.
“I think everybody wanted Tom Watson to win.” he recalled.
“That probably even included Stewart Cink. It was a fairytale. I think Tom Watson has given a lot to the game of golf and that’s why people wanted him to win-over and above the fact that he was 59 last year.
“I’ve played with him a couple of times now in majors and he just rips it and keeps going for pins.
“When I see him playing I always have to step back and admire.”
As a previous winner of the Dunhill Links Championship, Harrington has already tasted victory in St Andrews, but he knows that an autumn and a summer Old Course are entirely different animals.
He stated, “Saturday and Sunday actually felt more like the Dunhill, with the course wet and soft and the cold weather. In fact, the Dunhill weather was probably better than the weekend here.”