European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie welcomes us to the tenth in his series of blogs. We catch up with his movements both on and off the course and continue the countdown to The Ryder Cup itself.

Time flies......
Hello again everyone and welcome to my latest blog. It really doesn’t seem like a month since I last caught up with you all but I guess that shows how time flies when you are having fun and I am certainly having plenty of that in the role of Ryder Cup Captain. I knew it would be hectic but if you can’t enjoy everything that goes with such an important job, then you’re in the wrong business. Of course, time flying by means there is now only four months to go to the beginning of the contest itself – and you can really feel the excitement building around everyone who is involved with The Ryder Cup – from players and officials to Tour staff and everyone at Celtic Manor. As I’ve said many times, I can’t wait for it all to begin in earnest.

Welcome back to Wales.....
Mentioning Celtic Manor is appropriate of course for we are off there this week for The Celtic Manor Wales Open on The Twenty Ten Course where The Ryder Cup itself will unfold. Together with Ross McMurray and the team at European Golf Design as well as Jim McKenzie and his greenkeeping staff at Celtic Manor, we have made a few changes to the golf course, not wholesale changes but subtle ones which I think have improved the layout, and it will be interesting to see how the players cope with it.

Playing the Field........
Speaking of the field for the Wales Open, there has been a lot of talk in the press about its relative strengths and weaknesses. Let me say here that, considering we are opposite the Memorial Tournament in the States which is one of the biggest events of the year on the PGA Tour, I am delighted with who is playing in what will be the strongest gathering for the Wales Open in a long while. I had a look at the current top 20 in The Ryder Cup standings and of that 20, 12 will be in Wales and it would have been 14 had injury not robbed us of Padraig Harrington and Peter Hanson. That is an excellent turn-out and I wish every single one of them well. Of course, I will also be keeping a close eye on our European guys in the Memorial too.

Cool Hand Luke.......
I was delighted with the commitment of Luke Donald to come over from his base in the United States and play, not just the BMW PGA Championship, but also the Madrid Masters and The Celtic Manor Wales Open too. He very nearly won at Wentworth of course but he got his reward in fine style in Madrid with a super win. On the back of that success, he’s moved into the top nine in The Ryder Cup standings which I’m delighted about personally as Captain, while I am thrilled for him too that he has moved back into the top ten on the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a supremely talented golfer and a lovely young man and he deserves every success. While I was delighted for Luke, I was also thrilled to see Rhys Davies put in another sterling performance in what is turning out to be a fantastic rookie season for him on The European Tour. In one of my earlier blogs I commended him on his win in Morocco in March and said then that he was one of the best putters I have seen at that age and he showed that again on the greens in Madrid. As I said before, he has a big future in the game.

Extra-curricular activities......
I was pleased to play all four rounds at Wentworth myself, a course which still holds a special affinity for me following my three consecutive wins in the Championship from 1998 to 2000. As I am sure you know, the West Course has changed a lot over these past 12 months but I have to say that a lot of the criticism I heard that week was unfounded. I think it is now a modern version of course that is now a tougher test than it was before so I think they have done a great job. As I said, I was pleased to play all four rounds but, as has been the case of late the consistency wasn’t quite how I’d like it - my good shots are in there but there are still one or two too many mistakes for my liking. Not that I am making excuses mind you but it is difficult to find suitable practice time to put those matters right with all the extra-curricular Ryder Cup activities, especially during a week such as the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. There were numerous things going on, all of which I was delighted to attend, but all of which at the same time meant that I couldn’t go to the range or the putting green to work on my game. But that is fine – I am well aware of the situation. I have said all along that my main goal this year is to regain The Ryder Cup for Europe and I can continue the serious work on my own game once that, hopefully, has been achieved.

Time on my hands.....
One of the glittering occasions I attended during the Wentworth week was in the splendid Rolex unit in the hospitality pavilion running alongside the 18th fairway where I saw the Rolex watch that each of my Team Members will receive at Celtic Manor in October. It is a truly beautiful timepiece and I am delighted to say that I was given one too which I will truly cherish.

Simon Khan do it......
Final word on Wentworth of course must go to the new champion, Simon Khan, who I must say did tremendously well. Simon has had ups and downs in his career of late and even had to attend the Qualifying School at the end of last season after losing his card. But he showed his talent and determination by winning that event, the same talent and determination which saw him through to win our flagship event on The European Tour. I actually partnered him on Saturday and he played very well. Good luck to him.

Moving Day......
One other thing that has taken up a lot of my time at the moment is our house move. Gaynor and I and the kids have been in temporary accommodation near Gleneagles for the last 18 months but now our new house is finally ready and we are in the process of shifting everything from one place to the other. It’s said that the two most stressful things you can do in life is get married and move house. I wouldn’t say the move has been particularly stressful but, as all of you who have done this and tried to find various things in various boxes will completely understand, I’ll be glad when it’s all over!

Golf Live.......
Of course there have been a number of golfing activities I’ve been involved in over the past few weeks too with one of the most enjoyable being the inaugural Golf Live event at the beautiful Stoke Park near London. I was delighted to be given the role of Ambassador for the event and I am pleased to say it was a huge success with over 11,000 in attendance over the three days. Myself and other professionals such as Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Retief Goosen and my fellow Scot Catriona Matthew as well as a range of renowned golf coaches put on a range of masterclasses to illustrate all aspects of the golf swing as well as undertaking a series of three hole challenges during which spectators were encouraged to ask questions as we played along. I think it’s fair to say it is the only time in my entire golfing career that I have actively encouraged spectators to shout out from behind the ropes while I’ve been playing! But seriously, it was great fun for everyone involved and here’s hoping it is something which can be repeated in the future.

Back where it all began.....
I was also delighted recently to take part in an R&A Patrons Day at St Andrews. Any time you get the chance to play at the Home of Golf, you take it, as there is really nothing like walking up the 18th hole on the Old Course to get the heart racing. When I was there, memories flooded back to the many good times I have had on that hallowed turf – leading Scotland to victory in the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1995, triumphing personally in the Dunhill Links Championship in 2005, and, of course, my memorable battle with Tiger Woods earlier that year in The Open Championship. History shows that Tiger came out on top that day but the level of support for me that final afternoon, and the sheer crescendo of noise which rolled down in waves from thousands of people lining each fairway and green, is something that will live with me forever.

Looking ahead to Gleneagles.....
My most recent piece of off-course work involved one of the shortest journeys I have made this month, namely the three minute drive from my old house at Gleneagles to the course itself to take part in the Media Day for the Johnnie Walker Championship. Obviously this is a tournament which is close to my heart anyway in my role as Championship Chairman, but it will be a tournament which takes on much greater significance this August as it will not only be the final counting event in terms of Ryder Cup points, but also the venue where, once the tournament has finished, I will announce my three wild cards to supplement the nine players who will have qualified automatically. That will be a momentous occasion but, before that, we look set for a great tournament and, like Wales this week, we will have a great field in action for the Scottish golfing public to enjoy watching.

Well done Rory and Alvaro.....
Finally, in my last blog I praised Lee Westwood for his superb effort in the Masters at Augusta which, unfortunately from a European perspective, came up just short. However, since then, we have enjoyed European success in America of course, thanks to Rory McIlroy. It wasn’t just the fact that Rory claimed his first triumph on US soil but the swashbuckling way he swept to victory at Quail Hollow that was so impressive; making the cut right on the line before shooting up the leaderboard with a 66 and then a final day 62 which ended with six threes! It was a super showing just as Alvaro Quiros provided earlier that same day to win the Spanish Open. There is a great thrill in winning every tournament as a professional golfer but, having won the Scottish Open in the past, I can vouch for the fact that there is that little extra spring in your step when you claim your own national title and I know Alvaro would have felt that way in Catalunya that afternoon. Well done to them both.

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Ryder Reminiscences
In my last blog I looked back at Europe’s historic victory at Oak Hill Country Club in 1995 which represented my first taste of Ryder Cup success. This time, in the fourth of my series of Ryder Reminiscences, I look at another history making moment – The Ryder Cup’s first staging in Continental Europe at Valderrama in 1997 – and of course our extraordinary Captain that year.....Seve.

1997: The year of One Memorable Drive and Ten Memorable Seves!
Following our victory at Oak Hill, we were keen to capitalise on that success at Valderrama and we really showed that in the first two days, not losing any of the four sessions on Friday and Saturday to take a commanding 10 ½ - 5 ½ lead into the singles. In my debut at Kiawah Island in 1991 I had played one match with Bernhard Langer which we won and Seve decided to resurrect that partnership with great success. Bernhard and I won two of our three matches together – including a 5 and 3 thumping of Tiger Woods, who was making his Ryder Cup debut that year, and Mark O’Meara in Friday’s foursomes – while I also contributed another point in the company of Darren Clarke in the Saturday morning fourballs.

Therefore, going into Sunday’s singles we had every reason to be confident. We only needed four points for victory and, when Per-Ulrik Johansson and Costantino Rocca delivered two of them from matches two and three, we looked on our way – but we had reckoned without the stubborn American rearguard action.

Playing at number ten in the order, I really didn’t think it would come down to me to get us over the line but, as more and more victories went the American way, it suddenly dawned on me that it would. A Thomas Björn half point with Justin Leonard and my old pal Bernhard’s 2 and 1 victory over Brad Faxon meant we couldn’t lose the contest but we desperately wanted to win outright and so it was down to me to come up with the goods against Scott Hoch. The tension was incredible as we stood on the final tee and those of you who know Valderrama know it is not an easy tee shot. But I am proud to say I hit one of my best ever drives – a shot later voted European Tour Shot of the Year. It gave me the impetus to go on and get the half point with Scott that Europe needed to win 14 ½ - 13 ½.

However, as I said at the start of this segment, many of my fondest memories of Valderrama centre on Seve Ballesteros. Being Captain in his native Spain, you knew he desperately did not want to be on a losing side and, as a result, he was everywhere that week. We joked there must be ten Seves on the course because, whenever you were about to get ready to hit a shot, he seemed to be there – I think he was the only Captain in living memory to have put his golf buggy through a 10,000 mile service at the end of the week!

My favourite memory came when Bernhard and I were playing Lee Janzen and Jim Furyk in the Saturday afternoon foursomes. We were one up playing the last but I hit the tee shot into the trees and I remember saying to Bernhard on the way to the ball, ‘Just focus and play your own game because Seve is bound to be there’ and, sure enough, when we walked down to the ball, Seve was there, with his hands on his knees, peering down to study the ball. Where he had come from, I don’t know, he just appeared – but that was the way it was all that week.

Anyway, he was at the ball, looking at the shot, but the ball was dead, absolutely dead. The only way to play it was to chip it out sideways and start again. But Bernhard and I could see Seve bending up and down, squinting, trying to visualise the shot with his hands, going round the trees, starting with a slice and then with a touch of fade before hooking, dipping and swerving it onto the green – honestly it was a shot you’d only make about one in every 50 attempts! As Seve was pacing up and down the fairway, Bernhard had already chipped out – believe me it was the fastest shot he ever played in his life! Then I found the green and we halved the hole to win the match but I can still see Seve in the trees trying to figure out the way he’d have played the shot in his prime....while we’d played two shots already and won the match! Priceless!

Thanks for reading and, until next time, I wish you all good health and good golf.

Colin Montgomerie