Montgomerie gets serious about Seve Trophy

Colin Montgomerie looked forward to the inaugural Seve Ballesteros Trophy and declared 'the fun is over, now it's time to get serious'.

Eight weeks ago Ballesteros announced the new tournament to rival the Ryder Cup where Great Britain and Ireland will face the Rest of Europe at Sunningdale, starting Friday.

Spaniard Ballesteros will skipper the Rest of Europe, while Scotland's Montgomerie will take charge of Great Britain and Ireland.

Montgomerie said: "When your playing against Seve it's serious and you've got to go along with it. It was fun eight weeks ago when it was announced, but now it's very serious and both parties want to win - I know Seve does, and I do."

For Montgomerie it represents a chance for him to show his credentials as a team leader now he has become the senior figure in British golf since the decline of former stars Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer.

"In the 1997 Ryder Cup we had some big names, Woosnam, Langer and Faldo," he added. "But suddenly I'm the oldest player in the team at 35 - it's becoming a young man's game. I'm not saying they won’t be in the next team, but we have a young team now in Britain and that's encouraging for the future of British golf.

"We will take this very seriously and plan our pairings in great depth. We will try everyone on first day so they are ready for the singles. It's different because I'm a playing and managing. I have to ask myself, do I play or do I not? It's a team performance and although I'm captain we will make decisions as a team."

Sunningdale has been the victim of the cold, rain and even a drop of snow over the last feew days, but he says that won't bother him: "I think the course is playing long," he said. "The cold won’t influence us that much, but unfortunately it won’t be much fun for spectators."