FanHouse Sandy Lyle

It seems almost like clockwork, that at some point during your week you'll find out that Colin Montgomerie is not happy about something. Maybe it's Sandy Lyle, saying he cheated. It could be a trigger-happy photographer that didn't know of Mrs. Doubtfire's wrath. Or it simply could be a painter that refuses to brush Monty on a canvas because of his man boobs.

What is certain is he does tend to toss shoes around a lot, and his recent Nike discharge flew directly at England's own Ian Poulter, who after missing out on the Tour Championship, decided that he wouldn't be accepting an invitation to the Vivendi Trophy match in Paris (previously called the Seve Cup), and that rubbed the 2010 Ryder Cup captain the wrong way.

Stewart Cink is the British Open champion, the first major victory of his 15-year professional career. Given what happened at the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills, you might say it's a been a long time coming.

But part of me wonders if the 138th Open Championship will be remembered for who didn't win. Tom Watson, 59 -- and 26 years removed from his last major title -- was the 54-hole leader. In fact, he was the 71st-hole leader, too. A sloppy bogey on the last landed him in a playoff with Cink and that was that.

It was a valiant effort and a hell of a lot of fun to watch, particularly since we weren't beaten about the head with every Tiger Woods shot since, you know, he missed the cut.

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- Sandy Lyle cannot shut up. He called Colin Montgomerie a cheater, apologized and called him a cheater again, and now is saying that Montgomerie is not a man.

"We sometimes call him a bit of a drama queen," Lyle said on BBC radio Thursday. "He's probably milking it a bit."

I have conflicting thoughts here. We've all done what Lyle is doing, saying one dumb thing, trying to correct it and accidentally making it worse. So you try to fix it, and make it worse again. And when you watch a man doing that, you just want to scream, SHUT UP ALREADY, and it will all go away.

At last week's Scottish Open Sandy Lyle, apparently tired of talking about his decision to walk off the course after 10 holes at last year's Open Championship, pointed out that Colin Montgomerie was once accused of cheating during a 2005 tournament in Jakarta.

Not sure the connection, but that's the excuse Lyle was using yesterday when he apologized to Monty by reading a prepared statement with all the emotion of a Monty-hating robot. And then Lyle proceeded to make matters more awkward.

Via the Irish Times:

Scotland's Sandy Lyle has something countryman Colin Montgomerie doesn't -- a major victory. But Monty, who had a firm grip on the Best Player to Never Win a Major crown until age and Sergio Garcia caught up with him, beat out Lyle for the 2010 Ryder Cup captaincy. Small consolation, perhaps, but also a nod to the fact that he was Europe's best player the last two decades.

Throughout his career, Montgomerie has been known as much for his robot-like consistency as he was for his raging case of between-shots rabbit ears. Notorious for glaring into galleries, now he's having to deal with accusations from his colleagues. Interestingly, it's Lyle doing the finger-pointing.

Nice Faldo, step right over there, sir. The Europeans have a new honcho to take over your "captaincy."

Colin Montgomerie, or "Mrs. Doubtfire" to some, was named captain for 2010 on Wednesday, becoming the youngest captain ever for the Euros.

"It's not just an honor but a huge responsibility as well," Colin Montgomerie said Wednesday after being chosen to captain Europe's team for next year's Ryder Cup in Wales. "It is important we do everything we can to claim back the Ryder Cup in Wales in 2010."

Just in case you thought the Europeans needed another advantage in the upcoming Ryder Cup, good news, they got it. Thanks to trusty Jack Nicklaus, they can hang this article above their lockers in Valhalla for a little extra motivation.

The President Cup captain said that he thinks the Americans will win the Ryder Cup easily, even without Tiger Woods.

"Even without Tiger, (the Americans) should win easily".

The 18-time major winner, twice a Ryder Cup captain, told Golf Digest: "I just believe we have better players.

"I think American golf is better than perceptions based on recent Ryder Cup results."

You know, all this is true. The American golfers are better than most of the world probably thinks and just because we choke like Pierce Brosnan in "Mrs. Doubtfire" when the Ryder Cup rolls around doesn't mean they can't play. It just means they aren't good Ryder Cupers. Big difference.

It was a truly special week for Greg Norman at the British Open last week.

Contending in a tournament he won twice, the 53-year-old Norman gave the golf tournament significance for more than what golfer wasn't in attendance at Royal Birkdale.

No matter how he played, Norman stood by the fact that the British was just a warm-up for the Senior British Open, but it looks as though his energy tank is getting fairly close to empty. Norman, playing with Tom Watson and everyone's favorite quitter, Sandy Lyle, shot a four-over 75 to find himself in an early tie for 71st.

On Wednesday, Norman admitted he was optimistic about this week at Royal Troon.

"Now, my expectations are good," Norman said. "I like the golf course. Remember my comment last week: 'I was using the British Open for a warmup to the British Senior Open' - should have been the other way round.

"So now I've warmed up, basically. OK, so now I've got to step up and, hopefully, I can do that over the next four or five days."

It might take some time to truly appreciate what went on at the 2008 Open Championship.

With the top golfer in existence not around to fist pump, it was going to take some heavy story lines to keep people interesting. Little did we know an Irishman, an Australian and a dude in pink pants would make this major better than expected.

Here are the winners and losers from British Open week.