Torrance's words of advice to

Monty's older heads

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By SANDY MACASKILL
Sam Torrance has offered a few words of advice to the wiser heads who will form the backbone of the team to compete against the Americans at Celtic Manor.
Essentially, the man who captained the European Ryder Cup team to victory at the Belfry in 2002, reccommends: don't force your experience down the rookies' throats.
Padriag Harrington might prick up his ears at this. The Irishman has said he will "offer rather than wait" for a team-mate to ask for help.
It is all part of the 'pod' system, you see. Harrington, one of Colin Montgomerie's captain's picks, has been chosen for his hard service rather than Ryder Cup form (which has been pretty unimpressive), and he is willing to "go the extra mile" to prove his worth.
But Torrance disagrees with Harrington's assessment that he should do so by being proactive in lending a helping hand. Better to keep quiet and wait until asked before venturing an opinion, believes the Scot.

"You certainly wouldn't go and offer advice," Torrance said. "Absolutely not. You might ---- them up. That is not what [the senior players] are there for."

But it is another matter if the player asks for assistance. In fact, the Ryder Cup offers an invaluable opportunity to pump other top players for advice.

"If a young fella is feeling a bit worried about a certain shot and he knows that one of the other guys plays it fantastically, 51 weeks of the year he wouldn't dare ask him that question but that one week he can, and he will get an honest answer," Torrance explains.

Monty is nothing if not his own man, but he values what his countryman has to say. He played a round recently with the 57 year-old, and Torrance confirmed that he had offered the current captain advice on how to go about the business of leadership. The message? Make use of the home advantage.

According to Celtic Manor's director of golf courses Jim McKenzie, Monty has refused to "trick up" the course so that it favours a European style of play. Admirable, but as Paul Azinger showed by thinning out the rough around 300 yards at Valhalla so big hitters like Boo Weekly could go loose off the tee, securing the home advantage is crucial.

Torrance was not afraid of tinkering. He made the Belfry fairways tighter and lengthened the rough. "That was setting up the course," he explained. "It is the same for both teams and all above board. I don't know if Colin won't do that, in fact I hope he does. Setting the course up to suit the Europeans is his job." Does he think he will?

"Absolutely." What else? Get off to a good start. Dismissing as good fortune rather than astute strategy what has been described as his "master stroke", sending his strongest players out first on singles day while Curtis Strange left his until last (meaning that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were unable to influence play), Torrance believes Monty's job will be done in the opening two days.

He said: "A captain's job is done in the first two days, selecting the pairings. He has to get them right, and make sure they gel. On singles day it is luck who you come up against, how the Americans put out their 12 and how you put out yours."

Torrance accepts that the European side are favourites, but warns people not to write off the Americans – "It is a myth that the Americans don't gel as well. I think they gel just as well" – and, finally, suggests that the best Ryder Cup captains are those who are flexible – and have a moment of inspiration, like his decision to pair Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia together.

"It is down to the situation. The best captains are those who are on their toes. I paired Westwood and Garcia on Friday, and they won 3 ½ out of four points after four days. They had never hit a shot together, they had never hit a practice together. Just on the Thursday it came to me: Garcia and Westwood are going to play together. No ------- idea why. It just came to me."

There you go, Monty: over to you.

Sam Torrance was speaking at opening of the Direct Golf UK driving range at Beckett's Farm, Solihull.