Montgomerie: Europe should use four wild card picks

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SUTTON COLDFIELD, England (AP) -- Colin Montgomerie thinks Europe will respond to its Ryder Cup loss by adopting the American qualifying system of having four wild-card picks instead of two.

Montgomerie

Montgomerie also said he'd like to see Sandy Lyle as the next European captain, but that if he himself ever gets the job -- considered a likely possibility before 2014 -- he would scrap the current system of 10 automatic qualifiers and two wild cards.

"If it hasn't changed by then, I'll certainly be asking for that change by the time that I possibly do this job," Montgomerie said on the eve of the British Masters at The Belfry, which has hosted four Ryder Cups.

Montgomerie, who was overlooked for selection by captain Nick Faldo after playing in the previous eight Ryder Cups, praised U.S. captain Paul Azinger for pushing for more wild-card picks.

"I think Paul Azinger was very strong to go to the U.S. PGA and demand a change," Montgomerie said. "Having lost five of the last six Ryder Cups, a change had to be made for their setup and I'm sure that change will remain for the next captain. I think that for the future, eight and four is the way to go."

Lyle

British media have fiercely criticized Faldo after the United States' win at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, especially for placing top players Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington at the bottom of the Europeans' singles order.

While Montgomerie would not be drawn into criticizing Faldo, he said he would have liked to see a different singles lineup.

"If those three were playing higher in the order, they would 100 percent have been included in the final shakeup of what happened," he said.

Montgomerie said Lyle would be the logical successor to Faldo and his predecessors Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam and Bernard Langer.

"(Lyle) is the last of our five major winners of that era that hasn't yet captained the team and it would be nice to see him captain the team," he said.

Woosnam has been tipped to return as captain, but Darren Clarke -- another player rejected by Faldo -- said it was more likely for a new name to lead the team in 2010.

"I think having a repeat captain would be a difficult call," Clarke said. "I think the way for the foreseeable future is the captains have one go at it."

Montgomerie said he agreed that some of the top Europeans did not play up to expectations.

"Sergio Garcia, Harrington and Westwood didn't get the necessary points required," he said. "But at the same time, and it happened when we won in 2002, the reason we won was of the four rookies on our team, not one of them lost in singles. This time, their rookies like Boo Weekley and Hunter Mahan proved stronger."