Lunch with the Full Monty

There I was, minding my own business eating lunch at the London Golf Club the other day, when a recognisable face plonked his plate next to mine, said hello, and started to chat.

It was Colin Montgomerie, someone I'd been trying to track down all day at the Golf Live event at the beautiful course close enough to the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent that you could hear the cars zoom by every minute or so. If I couldn't get to a very busy Monty that day - he was performing master classes for an adoring public - then it turned out that Monty could get to me.

The man really isn't as he seems on the golf course, you know. Over the next 15 minutes we talked about all things, including his beloved Leeds United (he is also a Rangers fan) and, like all true Leeds fans, he was able to rattle off the 1972 FA Cup winning team to a man.

Thomas Levet, the French golfer who played his part in helping France win the right to stage the 2018 Ryder Cup, joined us, and we talked of how Monty's stint as a Sky reporter during the Masters only whetted his appetite to go out and play more. And, even though he had just captained Europe to a stunning Ryder Cup win over America in Celtic Manor last autumn, he is desperate to feature in 2012 as a player.

You can forget what the Americans think. Monty is great company at the lunch table, engaging and genuinely interested in what others have to say and think. It's a tall order for him to play again in the Ryder Cup, but would you be confident to bet against it? Not when that man is involved, for sure!