Ryder Cup Betting / Ralph Ellis / 30 April 2010 /

Ralph Ellis tells us what happened on the 18th green yesterday as Colin Montgomerie finished off his round and why it's more evidence that the European Ryder Cup captaincy may not be in the right hands.

I'm not sure if it ever really happened, because I can't think of what course it would have been, or if it was just an apocryphal tale. But I always loved the story my dad told me about the pre-war golfer lining up a 15 foot putt to win the Open on a final green that was close to a railway line.

Just as he was about to strike the ball, a giant express train complete with fuming pummels of smoke came clattering past making a noise to wake the dead. Our hero golfer (and I'm sure my dad named him, but again I can't remember), rolled the ball into the cup regardless.

"How did you do that?" asked an excited reporter. "Why weren't you put off by the train?"
To which the answer was simply: "What train?" The newly crowned champion was so absorbed in concentrating on his putt that he didn't even hear the monster express as it roared right past.

I thought of that tale with a smile this morning as I read of Colin Montgomerie's latest explosion of temper. If you thought Gordon Brown was a bit short when he was insulting a pensioner, then Europe's Ryder Cup captain comes out of the exact same stable of irritated Scots.

Monty, once the king of the European golf tour but now sadly turning into its jester with a ranking that's slipped to 322 in the world, blew the chance of a respectable start to the Spanish Open yesterday when he three-putted from inside 30 feet on his last green. Then he blamed the noise from a band playing pop music in the nearby tented village, shouting: "Is this a f****** golf tournament or a party?"

Now Montgomerie's tantrums when he's on the tour are of little concern to me. What does trouble me is the thought that he'll take that volatile temper, and desire to seek an excuse for anything that goes wrong, to Celtic Manor in October for the game's great bi-annual showpiece.

Europe are currently [1.76] favourites to regain the Ryder Cup, a price that reflects not only the success on tour of the likes of Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy but the emergence of younger talent like Liverpool's Paul Waring, who finished the first round a shot behind leader Ricardo Gonzales despite flying in only the day before because of the volcanic ash crisis.

But while the team is strong, the captain is a different matter. Without a top 40 finish this year, and with no top ten finish since the French Open in 2008, his own career has been in serious decline and it's exposing the flaws in his personality. He doesn't appear to have settled his feud from nearly two years ago with Ian Poulter, who will be one of our star players. And he certainly doesn't possess the leader's ability to keep calm in a crisis - as proved by his rock music outburst yesterday. If Europe are going to be worth backing at such a very short price I fear it will be in spite of Montgomerie, and not because of him.

Five things you might not know about Paul Waring

Born February 1985 in Birkenhead, he got into golf after his grandfather took him as a nine-year-old to the local pitch and putt. His mother Gill was an England international swimmer

He was 2007 English Amateur Champion, and turned pro later that year. Sadly his grandfather died a couple of days before Paul won his European Tour card
Before his golf career took off he was a disc jockey in clubs in Liverpool - his speciality was house music

He works with psychologist Dr Brian Hemmings, a golf specialist, whose other clients include last year's European Tour rookie of the year Chris Wood

He's into extreme sports and enjoyed wakeboarding (riding a surfboard behind a motorboat like a waterskier), but says he's given it up because of the risk of injury

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