EUROPEAN TOUR WALES OPEN:THE RYDER Cup captains made their public debut in Wales yesterday, a day before the Wales Open gets underway in Celtic Manor. One, Colin Montgomerie, larger than life in every way including his physique, the other, Corey Pavin, wiry as a terrier only with much less hair. It was definitely more Laurel and Hardy than Butch and Sundance.
Their entrance was as orchestrated as these things can be, with champagne corks popping even if the atmosphere in Gwent remained hot and humid rather than cool and excited.
Europe’s leader, Monty, was wearing an official merchandise shirt, bright and white and complementing his steadily greying hair. America’s Pavin resisted the temptation to flog a few bits and pieces on air and opted for a blue job with his personal sponsors prominent.
“Please turn your mobiles off,” said the press officer before relenting to advise that “silent mode would suffice”.
After a few gentle openers someone steamed in with a question to Monty about the weakness of the field that has pitched up to play the Wales Open over the next four days. “Spot the name you know” is a competition waiting to happen at a tournament so depleted of stars that it is offering only half the world ranking points compared to what was available in Kent at last week’s European Open.
“We had three late withdrawals in Soren Hansen, Robert Karlsson and Oliver Wilson, so originally we had four Ryder Cuppers set to play (Miguel Angel Jimenez is definitely here) which was quite good. No, I haven’t asked any of the potential 2010 team members to play this year, but I will be requesting them to play next year,” said Montgomerie.
Pavin, meanwhile, praised the course, thanked the owner, Terry Matthews, for his largesse in looking after him and his wife this week, and then suggested that he was going to ask his players to come to Wales for a practice round before playing in the British Open Championship next summer. He seemed to feel this was a serious plan.
The American captain’s last serious plan was to wear camouflage gear during his Ryder Cup debut at Kiawah in 1991, setting for the infamous “War On The Shore” when all sorts of dirty tricks were aimed at the Europeans and ending with Bernhard Langer howling in agony over a missed six-footer that gave the trophy to the United States.
So, 18 years later, was Pavin a little more chilled about these things? Apparently not.
“I hope I’m as patriotic or more patriotic than I was then. My actions were misconstrued over here. It was just a show of support for our troops over in Iraq at the time,” he said, before adding. “I think I bring a passion to the Ryder Cup, a competitiveness and a love for it.”
He will also bring four vice-captains, one more than Paul Azinger used in Kentucky when he split his team into three pods of four players, each with its own vice-captain. Pavin would not be drawn on whether he now plans four pods of three.
Monty did not seem to have either plan in his mind at present, although he did hint strongly that Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn will be among his assistants at Celtic Manor. “You can put two and two together in that I had a big say in the selection of Paul and Thomas for the Seve Trophy (the Dubliner is captain of Britain and Ireland, Bjorn leads Continental Europe) and, as I’ll be there and overseeing that particular event, there’s potential for them to take up a vice-captaincy role. But there’s no rush.”
All of which brought us to the usual Tiger Woods question about why the world number one always seems to approach the matches with the air of a man completing a chore out of a sense of duty rather than actually enjoying the damn thing. Pavin was swift to respond: “Tiger wants to win the Ryder Cup very, very badly. I was with him in Ireland three years ago and I can see in another player’s eyes how he feels and that week I saw a very determined man wanting to win.”
It was a defence backed up by Montgomerie. “When I’ve played against Tiger he has had incredible intensity in his game. We’d certainly rather have him on our team than play against him, I can promise you that.”
Selected tee-times for Wales Open
1st tee
12.35 – Niclas Fasth (Swe), Corey Pavin (US), Thomas Bjorn (Den).
12.45 – Robert Rock, Nick Dougherty, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind).
13.05 Colin Montgomerie, Anthony Wall, Phillip Price.
10th tee
07.35 Peter Lawrie, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Michael Campbell (Nzl).
07.55 – Peter Hedblom (Swe), Stephen Dodd, Shane Lowry.
08.05 – Christian Cevaer (Fra), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa).
08.15 – Scott Strange (Aus), Paul McGinley, Richard Finch.
Course: Celtic Manor Resort, Newport.
Length: 7,378 yards. Par: 71.
Prizemoney: €2.1 million, €343,086 for the winner.
Field: Poor.
Defending champion: Scott Strange.
First played: Denmark’s Steen Tinning won in 2000.
Irish wins: In 2001, Paul McGinley won on the fifth play-off hole after torrential rain reduced the tournament to 36 holes.
On TV: Sky Sports 1, 10am-1pm, 3pm-6pm.
Weather: Cool, rain at weekend.
