TORRANCE AND GALLACHER HAVE MONTY'S BACK

by dswinder, Sons of Sam Malone

Colin Montgomerie takes a lot of heat from the golf world, and Nick Faldo is no exception. Last week, Faldo, the Ryder Cup captain, criticized Monty, calling him hard to deal with and lacking in team spirit.

"Monty's a tough one," said Faldo. "He was the only one whose emotions I had to deal with. He had to be teased out on to the 18th green to support his team."

Now, I obviously don't know the Scot personally, but with a gun to my head, I'd have to say Nick Faldo is on to something with his criticisms. Sure, Monty gets a bad rap in the American media, but maybe it's, I don't know, somewhat accurate.

Regardless of what Colin's attitude really was, two former European Ryder Cup captains, Sam Torrance and Bernard Gallacher, are jumping to the defense of the 44-year old Scotsman.

The 2002 captain, Torrance, was not in the least of agreement with the '08 captain, Faldo.

"To remotely suggest Colin's not a team man is outrageous to say the least," stated Torrance. "One thing Colin is, he is a team man."

Torrance doesn't think that Faldo acted the way a captain should by complaining about Montgomerie.

"You've got to keep a nice bit of decorum in the team room and keep them all happy. I'm sure Nick will learn from this and will have seen the error of his ways by criticizing Colin like that," said Sam Torrance.

While Torrance showed obvious disdain for the comments of Faldo, three-time European captain, Bernard Gallacher, was able to trump Torrance in his level of disgust. Among other complaints, Gallacher was quick to say that Faldo's comments were hypocritical at best.

"I never felt Nick was a real team player but I accepted that as a captain because he gave you points. He wasn't a player like Seve, in as much as Seve would try and rule the team meetings and be out on the course rooting for the players. Nick always wanted to play with the best players. I went along with that because he was pretty good. But sometimes tactically you need to split the best players up. Seve was always up for that but Nick wasn't," said the three-time captain.

In addition to labeling Faldo pot to Montgomerie's kettle, Gallacher shared the same sentiments as his cohort, Sam Torrance, in thinking Faldo's comments were dangerous to the 2008 Ryder Cup squad. Said Gallacher,

"Nick will need a real fired-up player like Colin next time. He'll need everything that Montgomerie can give to the team."

Whatever the truth about Monty is, he should feel loved knowing that the two old chaps have his back. Now maybe he can go out and whine some more with the confidence to know that at least two people will step to the plate in his defense. I know I have no beef with the spat. The Americans will need all the help they can get, and a lovers quarrel is just the spark that's needed to shake the European squad. Go USA!

(Source 1) (Source 2)