The Old Colin Montgomerie Returns—It Was Only a Matter of Time

In the months following his selection as the European Ryder Cup team captain for the 2010 matches at Celtic Manner, Colin Montgomerie has been addressing fans and the media in a courteous, genuine manner.

Monty, as he is better known, has avoided any and all forms of the controversy he has been so often associated with throughout his career.

Maybe it was a sense of responsibility he felt upon being selected to captain the European Ryder Cup team, or maybe Monty had simply turned over a new leaf in the way he carries himself on the course and in the presence of fans and the media.

Well, maybe not.

The old Monty that we know and either love (or love to hate) came back in full force at last week's China Open.

During his round on Friday, where Monty carded a one-over-par 73, he shouted loudly and animatedly at a photographer who snapped a photo during his swing. This first outburst of the day from Monty was understandable. Professional photographers should know better than to snap photos during the middle of a player's swing, and Monty is certainly not the first player to have called them out on this issue.

However, things got progressively stranger as Monty's round went on.

While searching for a lost ball on the 14th hole, Monty snapped at a TV camera man, "don't film me." This scolding of a television camera man who was simply doing his job as he filmed Monty searching for his ball was obviously an uncalled for gesture by Monty, but that was not even close to the end of his antics on that day.

While talking to the press following his round, Monty said, "It's the understanding—the etiquette—of the game that sometimes the Chinese and the Koreans tend not to appreciate" and later went on to imply that sometimes emerging countries in the Far East as a whole do not understand or appreciate the etiquette of the game.

Now, that sounds more like the Colin Montgomerie we have been watching and shaking our heads at for the past two decades rather than what had appeared to be a new and improved Monty since being selected as the 2010 European Ryder Cup team captain.

The way in which Monty went about insulting an entire region of the world and their golf etiquette was probably not the smartest thing to do, particularly for a guy that will be the face of the Europeans during the highly publicised Ryder Cup matches next year.

Who knows though, maybe Monty's antics might somehow light a fire within the European Ryder Cup team that was so visibly missing at Valhalla last year.  Or maybe, as many had suspected right from the start, Monty's antics could just provide more distractions and additional headaches for the European team during a week that is extremely hectic and stressful as it is.