COLIN MONTGOMERIE has admitted he has already written a speech to be given if Europe loses the Ryder Cup, which tees off this Friday.

The European captain and Ryder Cup veteran said he had prepared a “runners-up” speech and said that it was “very important to prepare” for if things didn’t go his team’s way.

He refused to call it a “losing speech”, however.

He has also written what he hopes is a rousing speech to inspire his troops at Thursday evening’s opening ceremony, on foot of what his team perceived as a lack of locker-room leadership two years ago under the captaincy of Nick Faldo.

Graeme McDowell commented that the European side two years s ago “didn’t have that X-factor in terms of someone to get up and rally the troops – that extra spark in the team room was missing.”

Faldo’s opening remarks two years ago were widely criticised as being rambling and without much motivational content, and made Hibernophobic jibes about Padraig Harrington having hit more practice shots “than there are potatoes in Ireland” as well as getting Soren Hansen’s surname wrong.

“I will practise, I will get this right. I will have them standing up and leaving that ceremony feeling that we are going to win this Ryder Cup. That’s all I can do,” Montgomery said.

“I’m not going to say anything regarding Nick ['s opening speech] because I wasn’t there,” the Scotsman added, “but you had to say that [American captain Paul] Azinger was at least one up leaving that ceremony.”