MONTY MUST MAKE
SURE HE DOES NOT
HAVE TO RELY ON
SKIPPER FALDO
FOR RYDER PLACE

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE:
By Michael Walker Jr
Thousand Oaks, Calif. — It sounds like a wonderful dream for the U.S. captain, Paul Azinger: Scotland's Colin Montgomerie fails to qualify for the 2008 Ryder Cup team and is not made a captain's pick, leaving Europe without its strongest player and creating a mutinous atmosphere on the team.
This fantastic scenario is not far-fetched considering recent comments by the European captain, Nick Queeg, oops, I mean Faldo, who said Monty big-timed his teammates at the Seve Cup, skipping Ryder Cup meetings and having to be prompted to the 18th green to support the team.
For his part, Monty, who is in California this week for the Target World Challenge, said Wednesday that he intends to qualify for the Ryder Cup team in 2008 and make the question of a captain's pick moot. But he's prepared to be left off the Ryder Cup squad, which will go for a Euro four-peat at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., this September.
"I wouldn't lose any sleep over [not making the team]; I'd just make sure I make it in 2008," Monty said. "I'm nowhere near it now because I made a particularly poor start to the qualifying season, but I know if I play well in 2008 I'll qualify."
Asked if he's earned a captain's pick with his legendary Ryder Cup play (unbeaten in singles, 20-9-7 overall), Montgomerie wouldn't give a direct response.
"That's difficult," he said. "I've qualified seven times, and [Bernhard] Langer picked me in 2004. Even if I get to 12 or 13 on the list, I might get picked again. Nick knows the situation and he's aware of it, and so am I."
If you were inclined, you could read much into Montgomerie's oblique comments about Faldo on Wednesday. "Nick is his own man," he said. "He's a very, very individual man." So is North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il.
But the row with Faldo is behind them, Montgomerie said, and it won't poison the Europeans' camaraderie, which many believe has been essential to the team's three straight Ryder Cup victories and more than a decade of dominance.
"I've spoken to Nick and it's fine," Monty said. "It doesn't concern me, but we must keep that ambiance, that team spirit which has been so vital to us over the last success, of our Ryder Cup team intact."
In fact, Montgomery believes the 2008 contest will be the most intensely fought in years because of two changes the Americans have made. First, the PGA Tour is taking a week off before the Ryder Cup this year. Second, Azinger will have four captain's picks instead of the usual two.