Ryder Cup De-Brief: Was it Marvellous Monty or lucky man Monty?

Ryder Cup Betting / Steven Rawlings / 04 October 2010 /

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Peter Hanson, Monty, and Pod enjoy their win

“Pod doesn’t strike me as a team player and his Ryder Cup record is poor, yet he still got a pick! He didn’t deserve it and he certainly didn’t justify it.”

The Punter asks the questions. Are the near hero worship accolades deserved? How good was Captain Monty?..

The Samuel Ryder trophy is safely back in European hands and Sky's Di Stewart has described the day as a Magical Monty Monday but how great a captain was he? Can he really take all the plaudits? To his credit, he's playing down his role in the victory, and I think he's right to do so.

One could easily argue that with home advantage, the greatest European side ever, and even some good ole European weather, the margin should have been far wider than it was.

For the first time in its history, thanks to the incessant rain, the event ran into Monday and was reduced from five sessions to four, and Monty's men only managed to win one of them! Mercifully for the big feller they won it convincingly though - by a whopping 5 ½ to ½.

His decision to place US Open champ Graeme McDowell at the bottom of the singles order was inspired and as it turns out, decisive but his decision to pick Padraig Harrington over Paul Casey and Justin Rose was verging on shameful.

Harrington has been woefully out of form recently and to choose him over the other pair, and in particular Casey, was bewildering. Maybe Casey's closeness to Nick Faldo at the last Ryder Cup had something to do with it?

Pod doesn't strike me as a team player and his Ryder Cup record is poor, yet he still got a pick! He didn't deserve it and he certainly didn't justify it. He was awful for much of the event and it wasn't a surprise, his interview after Ross Fisher had carried him to victory on Saturday was though...

Incredibly he praised Monty for putting him with a rookie to get him focused, as he suggested that he wasn't up for his first match! I watched open-mouthed. If anyone was going to try their guts out from the get-go it should have been Pod. The fact that he wasn't is remarkable enough, to admit it was bizarre.

It may sound like the rankest of sour grapes to knock Monty in what some would call his finest hour, but I think the TV guys are going way over the top with their praises of the Scot. The same TV guys that joined Monty in sticking the boot into Faldo with relish two years ago...

Well done Europe and well done to Monty and his backroom team but let's put the win into perspective - Monty was within a ½ point of being captain chump as opposed to captain marvel and for my money he's a lucky man. But would he have got the abuse Nick Faldo got if he'd have lost? Somehow I doubt.

We're back to stroke play on Thursday, and I'll preview both the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the McGladrey Classic on Wednesday.

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