Smells like team spirit

People who think that life is always about money will have a hard job explaining the Ryder Cup. Top golfers earn serious cash these days, and fairly so-so golfers do too. But once every two years they play for nothing; nothing, that is, beyond the honour of winning. If you think that all sportsmen care about is the cheque, just ask Paul Casey how he feels about being left out of the European team.
The Ryder Cup also lies at the heart of the mysterious career of Colin Montgomerie, Europe’s captain this year. It’s his ninth biennial biff at the Americans, but his first when he’s not been playing. Make no mistake, Mrs Doubtfire has a phenomenal playing record: he’s never lost a singles match, not one. And yet Monty routinely stumbled at the final hurdle in his attempts to win a ‘major’. How could magnificent Monty, the serial Ryder Cup champion, co-exist alongside moody, mean and miserable Monty, the man who could never get his hands on the Open claret jug or Masters green jacket?
Montgomerie opened up about that conundrum this week in an interview with my Times colleague Ed Smith, the former England cricketer, in a gem of a BBC documentary, Is Professionalism Killing Sport?
Montgomerie said that playing as part of a Ryder Cup team helped him to be fearless and carefree.