Rookies to be blooded early

Monty promises to get his six rookies involved early

Last updated: 31st August 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Rookies to be blooded early

Molinari brothers to make their Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla

They are not really rookies in my eyes. We have a major winner in Martin Kaymer, another who has gone so close in Rory McIlroy, a world match play champion in Ross Fisher.

Colin Montgomerie
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Europe's six Ryder Cup rookies will all be given a taste of the action prior to Sunday's singles matches at Celtic Manor.

Half of captain Colin Montgomerie's team have never played in the contest previously - the most new caps Europe have paraded in a match since the seven that competed in the infamous 1999 clash at Brookline.

On that occasion captain Mark James left out Andrew Coltart, Jean Van de Velde and Jarmo Sandelin until the last day and all three lost as Europe surrendered a 10-6 lead heading into the final day of competition.

"I will try to play everybody as soon as possible," Montgomerie said of his rookie contingent.

When reminded of what James did at Brookline, he added: "That won't happen.

"They are not really rookies in my eyes. When I played for the first time in 1991 I felt very much an underling to the likes of (Nick) Faldo, Seve (Ballesteros), (Bernhard) Langer and Woosie (Ian Woosnam) - gods of the game.

"Now we have a major winner in Martin Kaymer, another who has gone so close in Rory McIlroy, a world match play champion in Ross Fisher."

The other three are Swede Peter Hanson and Italians Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, the first brothers to play in the same team since Bernard and Goeff Hunt in 1963.

Francesco's consistency earned him his first cap at seventh in the qualifying

table, while Edoardo and Hanson have each won twice this season, including the final two counting events.

Edoardo Molinari is not the first player to make his debut after being given a wild card. Luke Donald was picked by Langer six years ago, as was Coltart by James and Jesper Parnevik by Ballesteros in 1997 once Miguel Angel Martin had agreed to stand down because of injury.

America won with six rookies in their side two years ago. They were Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan, Boo Weekley, JB Holmes, Steve Stricker and Ben Curtis.

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