Monty deserves Nick pick

Major man Padraig Harrington has urged Nick Faldo to hand Colin Mongomerie a Ryder Cup pick.

While the Dubliner believes he’s ready to take over and become a Ryder Cup team leader, he still hopes that talisman Monty can continue in the role and take Europe to a fourth successive triumph.

Harrington said: “Now that I am in the team, I hope to tee it up with Monty. I look forward to that. I look forward to playing with anyone in the team but going back to the last few times I played with him, he would certainly be a pick of mine.

“He is a totally different man when it comes to the Ryder Cup and I don’t think there is any player who wouldn’t want to tee it up in a fourball or a foursomes with him and take on anybody in the world.”

Harrington silenced the doubters and locked up his fifth Ryder Cup cap by going top of the World Points qualifying list thanks his second Major win on Sunday night, joking: "The Ryder Cup is very entertaining once you're in the team!"

Now he hopes to win his fourth Ryder Cup on the trot alongside Monty and Birkdale runner-up Ian Poulter at Valhalla in September.

As a major champion, the Dubliner will be called upon to take a leading role, especially if Montgomerie fails to make the team for the ninth time.

And while he has no problem shouldering that responsibility, he still believes that Montgomerie loves it even more and should be given another chance to shine.

Looking ahead to Valhalla, Harrington said: “I am becoming one of the elder statesmen and certainly the more experienced with major wins and things like that.

“I have always felt the type of player if someone wanted advice, I’d be there to help. And I have always felt like I have to give.

“Even in school, I’d be captain of teams but for some reason, like with the Ryder Cup, I’ve felt there are other people who get more out of it being in that position.

“I am quite happy that I can perform to my level regardless of my position in the hierarchal system whereas Monty clearly performs better by being a player captain.

“He clearly likes to be out front leading and doing his thing. I am the kind of person if you say you are playing number one or number ten or number seven I’d feel I would go out and put in the exact same performance.

“I think that’s my attitude. I wonder, maybe not this time, but I will certainly have to step up to the bat at some stage. Maybe take over that position. I’ve noticed over the last year, 18 months that I get far more respect from the players.

“Not that I didn’t get it all the time, but I notice there is a little bit more deference for what I have done in golf and there is an attitude of when I win it is kind of an expected thing, even with some of the texts I’ve got this week from other players.

“They nearly believed more in me than I did, and I am getting to the stage that they’re young enough that I could be the captain but I still think that’s Monty’s job if he shows the form he has in the last number of times coming in.

“He will be right up there for a pick and he is the elder statesman. I am just getting out of this situation of feeling like a kid myself as in one of the younger guys, maybe not this time round but in years to come I would feel more like a leader on the team.”

Currently 15th in the Ryder Cup Points List, Montgomerie would need a wildcard from Faldo, who is not a big fan of the Scot after they fell out during last year’s Seve Trophy in Ireland.

The English legend even joked at the Scot’s expense in a Ryder Cup related TV interview with the BBC last weekend.

Shown a list of possible Ryder Cup wildcards, which was topped by Montgomerie and followed by the names of Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, Faldo sniped: “Well that’s a good list, but they are not in the right order!”

Harrington feels that it is not individuals but the team that counts and he has seen enough from Montgomerie and Open runner-up Poulter to convince him that they should be in the side.

He said: “The only result that counts is the team. I played so many teams as an amateur and I have never had any time for anyone who walks off a golf course saying they’ve played well, it doesn’t make any difference. The team is all that counts.

“A player can be winning all his matches but influences the team so negatively that they lose and vice versa, a player can losing all his matches but says the right things that make all the difference for the team to win.

“There is much more behind the scenes in a team effort, it is very important to get a good balance in the team.”

Poulter is still outside the automatic top 10 qualifiers for the side, despite his brilliant performance at Royal Birkdale on Sunday.

But Harrington fully expects the flamboyant English ace - seventh in the world points list - to earn his second cap.

He said: “I think it's inevitable he will play his way in from here. He's shown he is a big-time player and that's the type you want in the Ryder Cup.”