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Montgomerie reveals moving Seve call

Colin Montgomerie feels his players are fully motivated to claim Ryder Cup glory © PA Photos

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• News: Europe dedicate victory to Seve
  
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• Profile: Colin Montgomerie

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Colin Montgomeriehas revealed the Europe team had an "inspirational" phonecall with Seve Ballesteros on Tuesday evening.

Ballesteros is a four-time winner of the Ryder Cup as a player and led the team to victory as a captain in 1997, but is fighting cancer and unable to make the trip to Celtic Manor. Montgomerie has revealed it was an emotional conversation with the Spaniard and feels it has put further fire into the bellies of his players.

"We rang Santander and the whole team spoke to Seve for about 10 minutes," Montgomerie said at his press conference on Wednesday. "It was motivational, passionate and also very sad to hear him and hear the way he is.

"But still the passion is very strong within Seve. He just wishes he could be here. He was invited to be here but as you are probably aware he has not been able to make it. That was inspirational, especially for the rookies to speak to Seve and Seve speak to them.

"We had a team meeting afterwards and it took on a different form because of the passion that was in in that room. It was a super time we had together. I was the only one in that room who played with Seve in Ryder Cups. I was fortunate to play in three Ryder Cups with Seve and of course he captained me and I've never had anyone as passionate about the sport as him.

"Seve is our Ryder Cup and always will be. It is always nice to make sure Seve is never forgotten by golf in any way, shape or form."

"We had a quiz afterwards, which was well done, and if the team needed bonding in any way these sorts of evenings do it."

Much has been made of the verbal sparring between Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods and it has been suggested that the two captains could manufacture a battle in the singles. USA skipper Corey Pavin said he would play no part in this and the sentiment has been echoed by Montgomerie.

"It is something I almost want to avoid," Montgomerie said. "There is a one in four chance if Tiger plays on Friday morning and Rory plays on Friday morning. And there is a one in 12 chance of them meeting in the singles. That is all there is and I am not trying to find out where Tiger is playing.

"If it does happen, great and we look forward to that challenge and I am sure Rory and Tiger would too. But this is about a team not individuals. My team is focused on getting 14½ points and it does not matter who gets them."

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