GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR:LIKE MOST good dramas, the mystery of Europe's 2010 Ryder Cup team will not be solved until the final scene, but for suspense junkies in need of sustenance until Sunday's team announcement, Colin Montgomerie was at his gnomic best yesterday, sowing more confusion to an already confusing landscape.

“I have not made my mind up,” declared Europe’s captain. “Yes, I have an idea but that might well change, so I’ve got to be flexible," declared Europe’s captain, two minutes after his previous declaration.

“I do have a preferred three in my head, but I am sure something will happen here that will change that,” declared Europe’s captain, five minutes after that.

It was ever thus when it comes to Monty’s musings, which over time have had all the consistency of a Scottish summer. Yet there is surely method, or a least an easily discernible logic, in his unpredictability as he contemplates what he has often described as the most difficult decision of his long career.

The outcome of this week’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, which starts today, will take care of the first nine places on the Ryder Cup team that Montgomerie will lead against the United States at Celtic Manor in South Wales on 1-3 October. The tricky part comes with the final three places, which are in the gift of the captain.

Montgomerie has a wide range of choices from which to pick – Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Pádraig Harrington, Edoardo Molinari, Justin Rose, Alvaro Quiros, Robert Karlsson to name just seven players not yet in the team.

The practice green at Gleneagles yesterday was awash with speculation and, in the case of the big-hitting Quiros, self-promotion.

“I think you have Molinari, who is playing great and he would be a good partner with his brother. And you have me. I would have a good advantage in Wales, with the length [I hit the ball]. I would be a good team-mate,” the likeable Spaniard said, before turning his attention to those conspicuous by their absence in Scotland.

Casey, Donald, Rose and Harrington – the FedEx Four, as they have been dubbed – have chosen to play the first event of the PGA Tour’s play-offs this week at the Ridgewood club in Paramus, New Jersey, instead of coming here and trying to play their way on to Montgomerie’s team; a choice that has met with some disapproval among the European Tour’s rank and file.

Quiros declined to add his voice to those of the critics, although he was noticeably cool when it came to assessing the prospects of absent colleagues. “I would pick one of the four,” he said, sniffily.

Monty might be a fan of Quiros and his big-hitting ways but he is a bigger fan of those whose mettle has been tested at the highest level, though the four absent candidates all declined when he asked them two weeks ago to come to Gleneagles.

“I had to respect their decision,” he said. “I am not in a position to tell anyone where they should and shouldn’t play.”

“The situation of players not attending here has changed, in my opinion,” he said. “I’m glad the players [in the US] that might well get selected are playing competitive golf. I think the American team’s performance at Valhalla [in 2008] was boosted by the fact that they were playing competitive golf right up to the Ryder Cup. If it boosts their performance, it can boost our own.”

Five months ago, Montgomerie was insistent that an appearance at Gleneagles this week was all but mandatory for anyone still looking to find his favour. The Ryder Cup worm has turned, clearly, and in this rapid change of direction Montgomerie surely revealed that one decision has been made, even if the most decisive decision of all has not. The lucky three will come from the FedEx Four. But which of them will be the odd man out?

Six Irish are in contention for the first prize of €282,773 on offer this weekend, Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie, Shane Lowry, Simon Thornton, Paul McGinley and Gary Murphy.

Guardian Service

JOHNNIE WALKER

Course: Centenary course, Gleneagles, Perthshire, Scotland.

Length: 7,316 yards. Par: 72.

Prizemoney: €1.7 million (€282,773 for the winner)

Layout: Designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1993, the course will stage the 2014 Ryder Cup. Generous fairways and large greens are the feature.

Field: 156.

Defending champion: Peter Hedblom.

On TV: Sky Sports 3 today and tomorrow from 10.30am, Saturday 1pm and Sunday noon.

Weather forecast: Plenty of rain has hit the course in the build-up, with a mixture of sunshine and showers but light winds forecast.