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Montgomerie: out of form

The European captain has to pick someone that's won recently, because he needs players playing with confidence.

Mark Roe
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There' s a lot of money to be won between now and the Ryder Cup, starting with €4million at the French Open - and for some of Europe's biggest names, there's a lot of work to be done too.

There's a huge amount of world rankings points up for grabs and although you might not think it over here, Tiger Woods' absence means there are going to be some big changes over the next few weeks.

There will be guys lower down the Ryder Cup rankings that fall out and, I hope, some of our established guys that start to find some form and play their way into Nick Faldo's team.

And I am talking about some big names, who have been central to past European successes.

By that I mean Padraig Harringon, I mean Darren Clarke; there's two names for starters I would dearly love to see in the team heading out to Valhalla. And of course, the one glaring omission from either list, Colin Montgomerie. He is not even close right now.

Yes, there are two wild card places left but why would Faldo pick him if he's not playing at all well? It doesn't matter what Colin has done in the competition down the years, you cannot afford to take anyone to Valhalla if they're not playing well at the time - whatever their Ryder Cup reputation.

Confidence

If he, or some of the others down the rankings, were to pick up a win in the seven weeks left and at least showed some form, I am sure they would put themselves in the forefront of Faldo's mind. The European captain has to pick someone that's won recently, because he needs players playing with confidence.

Ian Poulter is another one who needs to put a good run together in the next few weeks. He's back in action at the French Open and is another who would, if fit and in form, be in Faldo's thoughts.

He's played Ryder Cup before, he's great under pressure, he's a character who is not daunted by anybody and he's a great pressure putter - all great attributes. But again, those will count for nothing if he doesn't start to win over the next few weeks.

Paul Casey, is even further away at the moment, but I think he showed some form at the BMW International last week, where he finished third. I thought his game looked in good shape and if he gets on a decent run with the putter, he could easily win two of the next seven events and play his way into the European side.

One man who will be there is Martin Kaymer, the winner of the BMW International last week. His will to succeed is almost Tiger-like: he just doesn't play for second place, which is why he forges himself ahead and gets a six-shot lead going into the final round - as he did in Abu Dhabi as well.

This guy doesn't play for money or for points either, he plays for victory and I do think in the world of golf today that is a rare commodity.

Amazing

Last week was a learning experience for Martin as well. He made a mental error on the 11th trying to fly a five iron out of the rough from 220 yards, but he will learn from it and the one thing he didn't do was at any point, throw in the towel and say it was not his day.

Instead he came up the 18th, by his own admission at the end of a horrible day, and said 'I can still win'. He made four and got in a play-off and look how he played that hole. He was a totally different player; he used his strength, which is his length, to power the ball 290 yards over the lake and went in with a six iron on a hole that Anders Hansen would be happy to reach with a driver and a three wood.

That victory showed to me that Maartin Kaymer is the full package. There are things he doesn't do that well, but he can only get better and that's the most amazing about him.

As Bernhard Langer, who is obviously a huge fan of his and spoke of him in glowing terms said, he's got to work on his short game. Then he will get even better. He is already truly one of Europe's superstars and will be at Valhalla in September, I have no doubt.

Pressure

Before that Kaymer and several other leading European lights will take on a golf course I know very well at the Open de France.

It seems so long ago that I won there back in 1994 - and the prize fund was certainly nothing like the €4million it is now - but Le Golf National remains an absolutely stunning, brilliant golf course. It really puts you under pressure coming down the last few holes and really tests every part of your game - your ball-striking and your mental attitude.

It was a course I absolutely loved; I won there, I finished third there, I finished fifth there, it's just a quality golf course and you have to strike the ball well to win around it - it has hardly changed in all those years.

And it could be the scene of a timely run into the Ryder Cup. He is not playing this week but one of the last times I played the French Open I played with Harrington on the last day when he wasn't in any sort of form, but he finished third there, really ground it out, picked up a big cheque and went on to make the Ryder Cup that year.

Maybe history will repeat itself.