Montgomerie to skipper Europe in 2011 Royal Trophy

Winning Ryder Cup skipper Colin Montgomerie will reprise his role asEuropean player-captain in January’s Royal Trophy defence against Asia.

Montgomerie will stay on in the role at the request of golfing legend Seve Ballesteros, who had captained the team to wins in each of the first two renewals of the event, and will bid to retain the trophy which he and his team won 8.5-7.5 in a dramatic triumph in Bangkok earlier in the year when the final match of the tournament between Thonchai Jaidee and Henrik Stenson ended all-square.

Montgomerie will once again lock horns with Naomichi ‘Joe’ Ozaki, who will be captaining the Asian team for the fourth successive year.

Ballesteros, slowly fighting his way back to health after surgery to remove a brain tumour in 2008, is hoping to be fit enough to be present.

“I need to continue to take care of my health and it will depend on the advice of my doctors,” Ballesteros told Reuters.

“If I cannot be in Thailand for the tournament, I’ll be following on television and I’ll certainly be in very close contact with the captains and with our team on the ground.”

Seve on the Road to Recovery

It’s good news for Seve fans as the golfing legend revealed yesterday via his website that his second round of chemotheraphy had gone “very well” and that he is due to begin a third session shortly. Ballesteros, 51, said in the post that his health continues to improve following brain surgery last year to remove a tumour.

Seve’s second session of chemotherapy and subsequent check-up took place at Madrid’s La Paz hospital – the same hospital who performed the original surgery – and announced the results of the medical examination provided encoruraging results for the Spaniard’s recovery.

The message, which Seve began ‘Dear friends’ said:

“The results of the checkup were really positive. Better even than the first ones … I will start my third chemotherapy round shortly and hope it will be in the same line as the previous ones.”

Also in the message, Seve described his spirits as being high and had a strong desire for things to return to normal. The five-time Major winner also announced his intention make an appearance, either in printed format or as an audio-visual broadcast.

Seve signed off the message with ‘please receive a warm embrace from your friend.’

Seve was originally diagnosed with a brain tumour after collapsing and losing consciousness at Madrid’s Barajas international airport on October 6th 2008. Since the original prognosis, Seve has endured four operations to remove the tumour and reduce swelling in his skull, and has described the battle against the tumour as ‘the hardest challenge of my life.’