COLOGNE // European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has not ruled out picking German veteran Bernhard Langer as one of his three wild cards for next year's match with the USA. Montgomerie made his surprise revelation at Gut Larchenhof, the day before playing in the Mercedes Masters. "Bernhard is professionally perfect in everything he does and you could do a lot worse," he said. "He would be a great foursomes partner for a start. He's still very competitive and still very fit."
Langer would be 53 by the time the match takes place next year at Celtic Manor in Wales, but the twice US Masters champion who is now a dominant force on the US Champions Tour, did not think the idea was fanciful either. "Obviously, there is no way I could qualify but I've proved in two of the events I've played (on the full European Tour) this year that I can still compete at this level. "My swing has got better technically because I've had more time to work at it and that breeds confidence. My back has been consistently better. So who knows? It's totally up to the captain."
Montgomerie and Langer, who is looking to be the tour's oldest winner again, play together in the first round in Cologne and Langer added they were sure to be "talking Ryder Cup". Former European No 1 Lee Westwood, fourth on the current money-list for the Road to Dubai, has no doubt Langer is still a force to be reckoned with. "Even if Bernhard lost 50 per cent of his work ethic he'd still work harder than most players," said the Briton.
* Reuters