Ryder Cup Woes.

With the Ryder Cup fast approaching the pressure is starting to mount, on some people more than others.

With the kind of year Tiger Woods has had, no doubt he would have liked to arrive at Celtic Manor under the radar and prepare for his matches with no distractions. Well let's hope he still has a sense of humour as one local company has come up with a novel idea to generate more sales during this year's match.

And if we can believe everything we read or hear, then the European Captain, Colin Montgomerie has some personal issues at the moment as well. This, coupled with the fact that he is desperate to win back the Ryder Cup for Europe, does not make his job any easier.

With the match just over a fortnight away, let's hope that golf takes centre stage.

Read the full story HERE.

500 Not Out For Monty.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie reaches another landmark when he competes in the Andalucia Open next week. Monty will make his 500th appearnce on the European Tour when he tees up in Seville. He is also Britain's most prolific winner on the European Tour.Europe's 2010 Ryder Cup captain will be aiming to win his 32nd Tour title, 20 years after winning his first.

Montgomerie turned professional in1987 and collected his first pay cheque-for £1905- when he finished tied for 45th place at the German Masters. 20 years later he won the slightly more substantial sum of £593,580 with a one shot victory at The European Open at The K Club in Ireland. He also surpassed Nick Faldo's previous record of 30 European Tour titles with this win.

His first win was in the 1989 Portugese Open where he cruised to an 11 shot victory, his biggest winning margin on the tour.

Since then, the 45 year old has a total of £23,639,775 in official career earnings. He has recorded 182 European top ten finishes, set 13 course records and lifted the Harry Vardon Trophy for winning the European Order of Merit eight times. He has had eight holes in one on the European Tour, won six European Tour titles in a single season, captured three consecutive BMW PGA championships and has received theTour's Golfer of the Year award four times.

He also remains unbeaten in eight Ryder Cup singles matches stretching back to 1991.

The only thing missing from that tremendous record is a victory in a Major championship, and you would have to think that time is now against him in that quest.

By his own admission, he is now set to fulfil a lifetime's ambition by captaining Europe's 2010 Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in Wales.

More Picks For European Ryder Cup Team?

New European Ryder Cup captain, Colin Montgomerie, could be set for a struggle to increase the number of wild card picks he can have for next year's competition at the Celtic Manor resort in Wales.
The Scot will reveal his plans to change the selection system when Europe's tournament committee next meet in Ireland in May.
However, opinions on the Tour seem to be divided as to whether the captain should get more than the usual two picks.
Sergio Garcia says " We've won five of the last seven Ryder Cups with two picks. There's no need to panic, the system works."
But Paul Casey, one of Nick Faldo's wild card picks for the defeat at Valhalla in September, thinks that Monty would have a better chance of winning the trophy back if he was given more say in the make up of the team. "If I were captain, I would want as many picks as possible, it's the only way to make sure you have the best team available" says Casey.
In 1991 at Kiawah Island, where Montgomerie made his Ryder Cup debut, captain Bernard Gallacher was allowed three wild card picks for the 12 man team. But this changed in 1995, and since then the captain has only been allowed two picks.
What do you think? Should the European team captain be allowed more than two picks? Or can he still get his strongest team by leaving the system as it is at the moment?