Sandy Lyle

[NorthernLights24]

Notice that Lyle has been in the press a lot these past few days regarding Montgomery and the Ryder Cup captaincy. Is it just me or does he just come across as an incredibly bitter man? I heard him apologise on the radio today and then just after the apology he started moaning again about the very thing he had just apologised for bring up!

[Tommy]

Notice that Lyle has been in the press a lot these past few days regarding Montgomery and the Ryder Cup captaincy. Is it just me or does he just come across as an incredibly bitter man? I heard him apologise on the radio today and then just after the apology he started moaning again about the very thing he had just apologised for bring up!

 

 

 

He lost a lot of support last year when he walked off the course and yes he does come across as a bitter individual.

[Landon Gentry]

Bitter? yes. Wrong? no. Cheating is far worse than walking off in my opinion but dunno why Lyle thought saying that would help him in any way. I remember monty sharing a title with Bernhard Langer. He accidentally touched the ball with his putter(could see on tv) but denied it and put it on Langer to call him up on it which he didn't for some reason. Used to like Monty but after those two incidents think he's a cock and im sure a fair number of players think the same as me.

[Sonoftherock]

Bitter? yes. Wrong? no. Cheating is far worse than walking off in my opinion but dunno why Lyle thought saying that would help him in any way. I remember monty sharing a title with Bernhard Langer. He accidentally touched the ball with his putter(could see on tv) but denied it and put it on Langer to call him up on it which he didn't for some reason. Used to like Monty but after those two incidents think he's a cock and im sure a fair number of players think the same as me.

 

I also think it was wrong of Monty not accept his apology.... just accept it and put it behind you. They're as bad as each other - a couple o' fannys, the pair of them.

[fatshaft]

Sandy's a fud with a man-freak of a wife. Monty's a fud with a gold-digging wife.

She was independently wealthy herself wasn't she?

[barassie_afc]

She was independently wealthy herself wasn't she?

 

 

no a black widow type monty beware

 

in response to Lyle I cant disagree with this article

 

It was an explosion with a long fuse, possibly dating back a decade and more. While Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo were all honoured with captaincy of Europe's Ryder Cup team, Sandy Lyle waited politely to be asked.

 

It is not in his nature to push for such high office. He thought his turn would come but it never did and the frustration boiled over as he hit out at Colin Montgomerie, the man who took the job that he believed to be his, and called him the worst thing you can brand a golfer: a cheat.

 

To put it in context, he said it when asked whether his decision to walk off during the first round of the Open last year - he had an injured hand - had contributed to the decision to overlook his claim on the captaincy. He indicated that he felt the incident had been less serious than Monty's controversial drop from the wrong position in the Indonesian Open, which had clearly not hindered his nomination. Lyle did say, though, that what his fellow Scot did was "a form of what you would call cheating".

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That comment from a compatriot of such high standing and who still commands great affection in Scotland meant that Montgomerie was certain to be hurt. When he was accorded captaincy, he thought it drew a line under the "Jakartagate" scandal that goes back four years. The sore has been reopened by a man he might have viewed as one of his closest allies.

 

Yet Lyle, too, has every reason to feel aggrieved. He was an integral member of that famous five of the 1980s and early 1990s who plundered the Americans' backyard at Augusta National and beyond, forming the basis of the great reversal of Ryder Cup fortunes. His achievements, though short-lived, were immense.

 

He was the first Briton for 16 years to win the Open when he triumphed at Royal St George's in 1985, and then the first Briton to win the Masters three years later when he played one of the most iconic shots in the history of the game, the 7-iron from a fairway bunker at the 18th to set up his winning birdie putt.

 

Unlike Montgomerie, who thrives in the limelight, Lyle has always preferred to blend into the background. He thought his clubs would do the talking, and that he would be recognised for his achievements in the arena he wanted it most: the Ryder Cup. He was wrong.

 

Lyle is known as "Gentle Sandy" and that may have counted against him in successive Ryder Cup matches when he might have been captain. Some might have mistaken the quality for softness, but you don't win two majors without a backbone of steel. His being overlooked for the Ryder Cup captaincy may have been a case of the squeaky wheel always getting the oil.

 

He is quiet, unassuming, never forceful and so honest that, when his form was poor one year, he asked to be left out of the Ryder Cup team. Aside from a few memorable quips - "Tiger Woods? Never played it", when asked about the emergence of the world No.1-to-be - he really did let his clubs do the talking.

 

Yet he must have wondered where he went wrong as Mark James, Sam Torrance and finally Montgomerie, all great players but without a major championship to their names, were given the Ryder Cup captaincy ahead of him.

 

It must have been painful for Lyle to see players of lesser achievement receive such an accolade while the 15-player committee that appointed Montgomerie unanimously earlier this year, moreover, contained only one major winner in Paul Lawrie.

 

Montgomerie had even championed Lyle's cause as captain for the next of the biennial beanfeasts at Celtic Manor in Wales, only to perform a swift about-turn in the face of strong encouragement and allow himself to be persuaded to take the job. He readily rejoiced in the role he had thought might come his way later, in 2014 at Gleneagles.

 

The mood of the committee was that, after the error-strewn captaincy of Faldo at Valhalla, Kentucky, last year, it would be another mistake to give the job to an older man relatively out of touch with the players likely to make up the team.

 

Lyle blotted his copybook a year ago when he walked off the course at Royal Birkdale in appalling weather midway through the first round. His left hand, which had been causing him problems, had become so sore that he could hardly hit the ball. Typically, he made little of it and was roundly condemned.

 

It was when he was asked if he thought that incident had cost him the captaincy that he blurted out that Montgomerie had done much worse in the Indonesia Open four years ago.

 

Let's remind ourselves of what happened then. He was playing in Jakarta in March in an effort to return to the world's top 50 so that he could play in the Masters the following month. He was playing well but, at the 14th in the second round, was at the edge of a greenside bunker and having difficulty taking a stance without leaving his left foot in the sand. After some shuffling, the hooter sounded, warning of a thunderstorm, and Montgomerie left the course without marking his ball.

 

The rules don't actually require the ball to be marked but, when Montgomerie returned the next day and his ball had disappeared, he had to replace it and did so in a place where he had a solid stance. He chipped and putted to save par.

 

Some find it hard to believe that the error - the ball was probably around a foot in distance from its original position - was simply a misjudgment because there was such a distinct point of reference.

 

The incident was raised at the time with tournament official Jose Maria Zamora who, surprisingly in hindsight, cleared the Scot. However, the tapes were later examined by that same committee that was to appoint Montgomerie to Ryder Cup captaincy. It was too late to impose a penalty, but they expressed "dissatisafaction" at the attempt to replace the ball.

 

Montgomerie regarded the incident as an innocent mistake and donated his

[fatshaft]

This is too simplistic. Lyle is not a leader of men. A man of proven integrity and unquestionable personal achievements, it's a shame he thought he was in with a chance. He isn't.

Got to agree again Mr Rocket. And the more he speaks this week, the more he's confirming it.

 

Once again today he just couldn't help himself having another dig, and that after calling Monty a drama queen yesterday, even though Monty hasn't actually said much at all this week.

 

It's a shame because Sandy was fabulous in his day, and there's no doubt he 'deserves' to be captain, however Faldo proved that 'deserving' it, and being suitable, are two very different things indeed, and if he wants to point fingers at anyone for not getting the job, it should probably be Faldo.

[barassie_afc]

sandy has never been the brightest and i think its came across this week and agree he isnt a leader of men, saying that woosnam was hardly any of those

[barassie_afc]

I dunno. Boozy Woosie would be difficult not to warm to and given his record, automatically commands respect. There's sufficient qualifications right there.

 

 

yes i thought what a leader when he was snottering champers doon his nose at the k club.............

[fatshaft]

I dunno. Boozy Woosie would be difficult not to warm to and given his record, automatically commands respect. There's sufficient qualifications right there.

Which is why Lyle expected to get the job, he's got much the same qualifications.