World Cup dilemmas for Monty

McDowell and McIlroy: Cup pairing?

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Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has plenty to ponder after the Omega Mission Hills World Cup brought to prominence three potential pairings for Celtic Manor.

Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson as well as Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher did their chances no harm after impressive showings - Ireland, Sweden and England respectively finishing joint second and fourth in China.

Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari walked away with the title on Sunday, although next September's showdown with the United States may come just too soon for the talented siblings.

However, as he works out his foursome and fourball pairings, Montgomerie is sure to take note of the strong showings made by the European countries in Shenzhen.

With Ireland leading for the first three rounds and Sweden always lurking for the majority of the week, Poulter and Fisher sat well down the field heading into the last two days.

But they made their move with a nine-under-par 63 in fourballs before posting an impressive final round 64 in the testing alternate foursomes on Sunday, although they had ultimately left themselves too much to do.

"If you add our scores together over the last two years, we can play good golf in foursomes," said Poulter, who combined with Fisher to finish sixth last year following a similar weekend charge.

"It's encouraging to know that there's definitely a potential partnership, and let's hope we both make the Ryder Cup side.

"Foursomes is a difficult format and whenever you have guys shooting seven, eight, nine, 10 under par in foursomes, it is seriously good golf.

"It goes to show how strong all of the fields were and how strong all of the teams were. They were very, very strong and it was a good turnout. There were some great teams, and there were some great scores."

Montgomerie has only three captain's picks to make, while the other nine places will be determined by the World and European points lists.

With nine months still remaining until the team is finally decided, world number 10 McIlroy, Volvo World Match Play Championship winner Fisher and Francesco Molinari would make Ryder Cup debuts as things stand.

Similarly, Singapore Open champion Poulter would make a third appearance after justifiably being handed a captain's pick by Nick Faldo last year.

World number seven Stenson and 2008 European Tour number one Karlsson, who appears back to his best following four months on the sidelines with an eye problem, have both made the last two Ryder Cup teams.

Downside

The downside of the week for McIlroy and McDowell, however, is that they were unable to secure a wire-to-wire victory after dominating the first three days.

They combined for a sparking 14-under-par in Thursday's opening round fourballs before following up a 68 in alternate foursomes with a 64 in the better ball format.

But a disappointing final round 70 came in Sunday's foursomes as they saw a three shot lead disappear.

Sweden will be left wondering how they did not defend their title after Stenson and Karlsson amazingly dropped just one shot over four rounds.

That proved to be the difference though as Italy won a first World Cup title by a single stroke.

Despite his disappointment on Sunday, 20-year-old McIlroy enthused: "My first taste of the World Cup was great, it was fantastic.

"To win on your own is very special; to win with a partner and experience the same feelings coming down the stretch is pretty cool. And hopefully I can come back next year and Graeme can come with me and we'll give it another shot."