Nick Faldo was widely criticized for his Ryder Cup captaincy at Valhalla back in 2008.
The United States ran out as comfortable 16.5-11.5 victors against Team Europe 18 years ago.
The criticism of the European captain started before the Ryder Cup had even begun, after he selected Ian Poulter and Paul Casey as his two captain’s picks ahead of Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke.
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Nick Faldo received even more criticism during the Ryder Cup for his pairing selections, poor leadership and questionable order of play for the Sunday singles.
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Colin Montgomerie spoke out about Nick Faldo’s captaincy the week after the 2008 Ryder Cup had finished.
Colin Montgomerie said how he felt about Nick Faldo’s Ryder Cup captaincy
Montgomerie and Faldo have never exactly seen eye-to-eye.
There has never been any real animosity between the Scotsman and the Englishman, but they certainly didn’t spend too much time together away from the golf course throughout their careers.
When speaking to the Evening Standard the week after Europe’s Ryder Cup defeat at Valhalla, Montgomerie shared his sympathy for the players who had to return home having lost against the Americans.
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“Having lost twice in America I know what the flight’s like coming home, and I know how everybody is down no matter how many points you get individually.“
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Montgomerie then responded when asked whether he had sympathy for Faldo.
“I can’t answer that question,“ the Scot replied.
Montgomerie was quite clearly not fond of Faldo’s captaincy style, team selection and tactics during the 2008 Ryder Cup.
Colin Montgomerie criticized Nick Faldo’s poor Sunday singles lineup
“Certain things would have been done the same and certain things I would have liked to have changed,“ he said.
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“The line-up of the singles was very important being 9-7 down. It had to be absolutely spot-on.
“It occurred to me that Poulter and Westwood and Harrington, possibly our three strongest players, might not be included the final shake-up.
“If those three were playing in the higher order they would have, 100 per cent, been included in the shake-up.”
“Once in the whole history of the Ryder Cup since 1927 has No 12 ever mattered.“
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