Rory Considers Ryder Cup ‘Unimportant’

He may be many peoples’ nap to be amongst the European team for the 2010 Ryder Cup, but Irish sensation, Rory McIlroy has played down the importance of the Ryder Cup and admitted that making the team isn’t one of his main aims.

McIlroy made the comments during the run-up to the 3 Irish Open which was won by Irish amateur, Shane Lowery, who was competing in his first PGA event; his win makes him only the third amateur ever to win a full PGA tour event. Ironically for McIlroy, however, he was partnered with Colin Montgomerie, the European captain for the 2010 team renewal during his first two rounds.

“It’s an exhibition at the end of the day. In the big scheme of things it’s not that important an event for me.

“If I play well enough I play well enough. And if I don’t, then so be it.”

“Golf is an individual sport and my individual goals are to win tournaments for myself.”

Montgomerie, however, wouldn’t be drawn on McIlroy’s comments, but did voice disagreement to the Irishman’s views.

“Rory will understand when, and it’s not an ‘if’, the pressures involved and the whole scenario of the Ryder Cup will hit him hard,” said the Scot.

“The Ryder Cup is not an exhibition. But please don’t say that Monty and Rory are having a war here.

“He’s a great player, a very exciting player and one of Europe’s best young talents. All I’m saying is the Ryder Cup is not an exhibition and never will be.”

But while making the Ryder Cup team isn’t a prerogative of McIlroy’s, it’s almost certain one way or another that he’ll be lining up at The Celtic Manor in an attempt to wrestle the Ryder Cup back from the United States, and despite his comments, he expects to “relish every moment of it” if his inclusion among Montgomerie’s twelve is confirmed.

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Seve Trophy gets a New Name

The Seve Trophy match – competed for by teams from Great Britain and Ireland and continental Europe – will alternate year-on-year with a 72-hole strokeplay event in a new-look schedule revealed by the European Tour. The current tournament is named after Seve Ballesteros who helped organize the inaugural competition, but will have a new name as from this year’s renewal of the team event.

Vivendi, a French media conglomerate will lend their name to the new tournament which is now to be called the Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros. Ballesteros is recovering from treatments to remove a cancerous brain tumour.

In the statement, the Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros will be played this year as planned and will be held at St Nom la Breteche, Versailles from September 24th to 27th and will replace the Canal Plus Open. The event will then take place again in two years time, in 2011.

In the meantime, 2010 will see the introduction of the Vivendi Celebrity Trophy, which will take on a strokeplay pro-am format and will be played over 72 holes. It will also be played in 2012, alternating yearly with the Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros team event.

Danish player Thomas Bjorn will lead the Europeans with Irishman Paul McGinley will skipper the Britain and Ireland team.

Another alteration to the European Tour schedule sees the Volvo World Match Play Championship, traditionally held at Wentworth, move away from the dates pencilled for the Vivendi Trophy and will now be played at the Surrey venue between October 29th and November 1st.

Also, following the cancellation of the British Masters, the Austrian Open will be contested between September 17th to 20th, meaning the Tour will have a vacant week where no tournaments take place between June 11th to 14th.

Monty Gets Third Ryder Cup Pick

In a move which 2010 Ryder Cup skipper claims will ‘put one foot towards regaining the Ryder Cup’, the European Tour player’s committee have agreed to increase the number of captain’s wild card picks for the team event from two to three, following a meeting in Ireland.

However, despite the increase, the tour committee would not move on calls to increase the quota further and match the US’ captains four wild card picks as it was feared doing so could have an impact on the number of European Tour events contested by the top European players.

Montgomerie becomes the first European captain since Bernard Gallacher in 1993 to have the luxury of three picks and the 45-year old Scot was delighted by the committee’s decision. Speaking to Sky Sports News, Montgomerie said of the decision:

“The whole scenario here is to win back the Ryder Cup and to have the strongest team possible

“That’s what we’re trying to achieve and hopefully we’ve put one foot towards that.

“The committee decided not to panic, I think that was right. I don’t think we have to panic, it’s not that bust so we’re not having to fix anything really.

“But it just gives the captain one more option whether I use that option or not if you like. But options are great in life and to have one more is super.”

The European team for the 2010 Ryder Cup match, to be held at The Celtic Manor resort in Wales, will consist of the top five players from the European Tour’s Order of Merit, with a further four automatic qualifiers to come from eligible players’ world ranking points earned throughout the qualifying period which runs from September this year to the end of August, 2010.

The remaining three slots will allow Montgomerie to pick whichever players he feels will best complement the automatic qualifiers. If the new system had been in operation for last year’s renewal of the Europe v USA team tournament, England’s Oliver Wilson would not have qualified, while Ian Poulter also came under fire for missing out on the final qualifying event in the hope that Nick Faldo, the 2008 captain, would grant him a wild-card entry.

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