Colin Montgomerie probably wishes he had a mulligan with Padraig
As a captain of a Ryder Cup team, certain choices can end in one of two ways; you can be a genius for making brash decisions, or a moron for trying to shake things up. Nick Faldo, who was on the losing end of the 2008 Ryder Cup, picked Ian Poulter as a captain's pick, which raised a ton of eyebrows, only to have the Englishman go 4-1-0.
Hal Sutton, on the other hand, thought to pair Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson together, only to have the superstar duo lose both matches. Now we have Colin Montgomerie, with his decision to pick Padraig Harrington over Paul Casey.
The matches aren't for another week, but if his recent play is any indication, Harrington might be the last guy the Europeans want on the team. In France for the Vivendi Open, Padraig shot rounds of 68-74, which might not seem that bad until you see what he did on some of his holes on Friday.
Harrington made a double-bogey and triple-bogey in his second round, adding to his continued struggles with avoiding the big number. Padraig is the only player in the top 50 in the world at this event, and the only member of the European Ryder Cup team playing in France, but he is still just a shot off of missing the cut.
While Padraig is doing that, Casey is lighting it up at the Tour Championship. Casey's 4-under 66 on Thursday has him in a share of the lead at East Lake, and he continues his recent run of solid play, after a second-place finish at the BMW Championship two weeks ago.
With the Ryder Cup just a week away, it seems that pulling the trigger on Padraig might not have been the right move.
