Golf Events / Bill Elliott / 28 May 2008 /

Colin needs to get into gear sharpish or the Ryder Cup ain't gonna happen and that'll be a shame for everyone, especially Bill Elliott

Terry Matthews is an interesting man. For a start he is a self-made billionaire, wealth he has accumulated the old way by working hard and being innovative in the confusing world of hi-tech telecommunications. He once spent two hours explaining to me exactly what it was he did and in the end we agreed to have a drink and talk about sport instead.

Anyway, what Terry wants, Terry tends to get. He set out to get the Ryder Cup and succeeded (at a cost of around £50million by the time you add it all up) and this year he has got Padraig Harrington for his Celtic Manor Wales Open this week.

The reigning Open champion won't have come cheap but then why should he? It would have been nice to have seen him pitch up at Wentworth last week but that was then, even if I do believe it is a decision he will regret eventually. What will be fascinating this week will be seeing how Padraig and the others get on with the new, rather clumsily named, Twenty Ten course.

It's called this because this is the track for the 2010 Ryder Cup. Having played it twice now I can confirm that it will be a spectacular stage for the old match. It is not now, and never will be, a great course but it is spectacular and contains enough risk/reward stuff to illuminate match play. Uniquely it offers the chance to sit on a hillside and watch the action over several holes at once in the valley below, the River Usk embroidering everything.

Several old (maybe ex?) Ryder Cuppers will be in Wales this week; Harrington, of course, but Darren Clarke will be there too, as will Niclas Fasth (my bet for this one), Robert 'Nearly Man' Karlsson, David Howell, Paul McGinley and, of course, dear, old Colin Montgomerie.

I wouldn't rule Monty out of this one actually because this course will, I think, suit the big man. His form at present is abysmal but he surely has at least one last hurrah in him and it is fast approaching midnight for the Scot if he is to impress Nick Faldo when the European skipper starts considering his two picks.

I spoke with Faldo at length in Augusta and he made it clear that he would love to be able to pick Colin but first Monty has to offer him something tangible. Faldo's thinking is that form is more significant than ranking when it comes to these picks so it is how a player performs over the next three months that will clinch a place.

Montgomerie was annoyed even by his inter-galactic standards when he exited Wentworth last week after missing the halfway cut and an annoyed Monty often turns out to be a very good Monty soon after these petulant outbursts. Look, I'm not saying do your brains in on him, I'm just reminding you that he should not be ruled out just yet.

Apart from anything else we should all wish to see him in that Ryder Cup team. There is more than one reason for this. During our chat, Faldo revealed that he was planning some very modern, tight-fitting gear for the guys to wear come September.

Then he laughed... "Can you imagine sending Monty out in tight-fitting Lycra? Now that would put the Americans off their sandwiches."

C'mon big man, get your act together, the Lycra is waiting.

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