Monty Is Not Happy With Ian Poulter

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.

"I just feel that when you are selected for your country more of an effort might well have been made," said Montgomerie, who is in attendance to watch potential members of his side for Celtic Manor next October. "Ian Poulter, not having qualified for the Tour championship and having been picked for the last Ryder Cup team [Westwood, Rose and García all qualified], I felt that a little more effort might have been made to come here.

"I spoke to Miguel Angel Jiménez. He's never missed one of these and never would miss one. Good for him and I'm the same and Paul McGinley the same and Thomas. I haven't spoken to Ian at all. Please don't make any big issue of this.

The Vivendi Trophy, if you weren't aware, is a team competition that pits 11 players from Continental Europe against 11 players from Great Britain and Ireland. The teams this year include the likes of Rory McIlroy, Ross Fisher, Henrik Stenson and Thomas Bjorn, to name a few notables.

Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald are competing in the Tour Championship this week in Atlanta, so they were out, and Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer are still recovering from injury. That left Poulter, along with Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose, as big names that decided they'd rather rest than play another team event.

As you probably know, the end of the season is a grind for these players competing on the PGA Tour. Not only do elite events surround the PGA Championship, but the FedEx Cup kicks off less than two weeks after the final putt drops at glory's last shot, so most of these guys are ready for a break.

Since none of the European players are allowed to play in the Presidents Cup, it might not be such a bad idea to push the Seve Cup back a few weeks, allowing your top names to take some time away before committing to another team event.

Or you can just toss peanut shells at them from the gallery. Monty tends to go with the latter.