Monty drops Ryder Cup hint

Faldo was sitting in the television commentary booth as Montgomerie - who has never been beaten in eight singles matches in Ryder Cup competition - lived to fight another day with an impressive one-up win over Howell at Dove Mountain.

"I knew that Nick Faldo was in the booth," Montgomerie said. "This is the only match play tournament we have before the Ryder Cup, and I think if I was the captain, I'd be watching very closely. I would pay huge attention to it, because it is a different form of golf to stroke play."

Montgomerie was implying that he should be on this year's Ryder Cup team to meet the Americans in Kentucky in September, even if it is as a captain's pick.

Montgomerie and Faldo are not the best of friends, to put it politely, but you can be sure they will put any past disagreements behind them when it comes to the one thing they both like so much, which is beating the Americans.

Montgomerie currently is a long way from qualifying for the team automatically, but if he puts in a few more performances like the past couple of days, that will quickly change.

If only they played match play every week, he must be thinking, because it certainly brings out his best.

He beat Americans Jim Furyk and Howell in the first two rounds and, by pure co-incidence, meets another American, Stewart Cink, in the third round.