Tour regular Montgomerie praised by Torrance

GOLF:SAM TORRANCE believes the fact Colin Montgomerie is still in a playing capacity will boost Europe's chances of success at the next year's Ryder Cup.

One of the criticisms of Nick Faldo’s captaincy in Valhalla last year was that he did not have as strong a bond with the players as previous captains did.

The 52-year-old had not been playing regularly on the European Tour for a number of years prior to the 2008 Ryder Cup, spending the majority of his time on off-course activities. Montgomerie, meanwhile, has played in 22 tournaments this season alone and Torrance believes his regular appearances on the Tour enables him to bond with other players as well as see first hand potential candidates for his team at Celtic Manor next year. “He will be a very good captain and is still on the Tour. That is imperative I think,“ he said.

“When I was captain I was still on Tour and playing with them week in, week out.”

While Torrance is confident Montgomerie will prove to be a good captain, he is unsure over his fellow Scot’s recent suggestion that he would consider Bernhard Langer as a wild-card selection. The 52-year-old German would undoubtedly bring plenty of experience having played in 10 Ryder Cups, while he has also picked up eight victories in 40 events on the US Seniors Tour. “He would need to be playing very well,” Torrance added.

Organisers of Australia’s national golf championship have scrapped the tournament’s controversial “party hole” after players complained about raucous spectators camped at the greenside bar.

The stadium hole, inspired by the 16th at the TPC Scottsdale in Arizona, brought a DJ and an open bar to the last two editions of the Australian Open in what organisers hoped would attract new fans to the game. The hole, set up at Royal Sydney golf course’s 17th last year, was the subject of controversy after Australian Robert Allenby was heckled by a spectator about his sick mother, who has since died of cancer.

A furious Allenby denounced the hole as promoting alcoholism and threatened to never return to the Australian tour. “He gave us some feedback about last year’s Open about what he felt and we certainly took that on board,” Golf Australia chief executive Stephen Pitt said of two-times champion Allenby, who will skip the December 3rd-6th tournament for the first time in 20 years.

Allenby will instead tee up at the invitational Sun City Challenge in South Africa, which is held in the same week and carries a €800,000 winner’s purse. Total prize money for the Australian Open is €900,000. A representative of Allenby denied reports that the Australian was skipping his home tournament due to past troubles at the event.