Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie wants his European team to get off to a flier and set the tone for their clash with the United States by winning this week’s Royal Trophy against a strong Asia team at the Amata Springs Country Club in Thailand.
Montgomerie, who will adopt a player-captaincy role for the Royal Trophy wants the European side to halt a slide in European match-play golf which has seen European teams relinquish the Ryder Cup, Royal Trophy and Solheim Cups in past matches.
Montgomerie will also use the event to assess the chances of a number of potential Ryder Cup team-members ahead of the clash at The Celtic Manor and will be scrutinising their ability to handle the pressures of team golf. Among the European team are Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, Englishman Simon Dyson, Pablo Martin of Spain and a quartet of Swedes in Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Alex Noren and Peter Hanson.
Despite a lack of big names in the European side, they will boast arguably the best current pair in the world when it comes to match play golf in Karlsson and Stenson who have proven their match-play credentials as a pairing. However, the Asia side is potentially as strong as it could be with players including teen Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa, Jeev Milkha Singh and Thongchai Jaidee in Asian lineup.
Montgomerie will become the first playing captain in the event, but insists the dual role won’t affect his leadership and could well prove beneficial as it would allow him the opportunity to monitor what was going on around him easier, especially has he has already selected his pairings.
The Royal Trophy gets underway on Friday and runs through to Sunday. The competition follows a Ryder Cup format with four sets of foursomes matches played on Friday, followed by fourballs on Saturday and eight singles matches on Sunday.
