Sir Colin has returned safely from a morale boosting trip to Afghanistan...no doubt a trip like that would boost your own morale and make you appreciate what you have no matter whether you are a millionaire like him or a pauper.
Good on him.
[h=3]SEVEN DAYS IN AFGHANISTAN MAKE BIG IMPRESSION ON MONTY[/h]
FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN
Sir Colin Montgomerie hails life-changing experience after Afghanistan morale-boosting mission with Ryder Cup
“Life-changing†is how Sir Colin Montgomerie describes his past seven days. And when this dervish of the fairways discloses that the next time he misses a four-foot putt, he will not flounce but instead accept the failure with perfect equanimity, you know that he means it.
For nothing in the Scot’s store of exotic experience could have conditioned him for a tour of Afghanistan. From tearing along Kabul’s streets in armoured vehicles, trying to screen out the perpetual din of the sirens, to giving British servicemen at Camp Bastion a first acquaintance with the Samuel Ryder Trophy, Montgomerie has seen more than enough in the last week to make him mellow.
He could be forgiven a certain exhaustion. Having flown back to RAF Brize Norton via Dubai and Cyprus in a Hercules, he shot around the M25 to Heathrow and headed straight out to Hong Kong for his next tournament.
Speaking to Telegraph Sport from the Fanling course, he discloses how profoundly his Afghan experience has affected him: “We all should live a little like I have lived this last week, and realise how lucky everyone is in Britain.
"It has been life-changing for me. If I do miss a putt of a four-foot nature out here, I will think, ‘Well, it doesn’t really matter, Colin, does it?’â€
Montgomerie had joined the expedition at the request of the Professional Golfers’ Association, which saw the capacity of a winning Ryder Cup captain to galvanise troop morale.
While the connection between Celtic Manor and Helmand province might appear hard to fathom, he explains: “They watched it out there, more so than we think.
"They had the satellite coverage via the British Forces Broadcasting Service. Many of the guys could not believe it when they saw the metal box that the Ryder Cup has to travel in for security. The number of times I’ve manhandled it, you almost take it for granted.â€
For a someone used to five-star resorts, the exposure to a few privations was powerful. “They’re on the edge, they live in fear. You ask them what they miss and some say, ‘Well, a knife and fork’, because everything has to be eaten off plastic plates. Others say simply that they miss vegetation and greenery. They’re in the middle of a desert.â€
The 48 year-old Scot is not above admitting that he feared several times for his personal safety. After all, on the very day that he returned to Brize Norton, so did four coffins.
“You do feel you are in a war zone, no question,†he acknowledges. “There were certain occasions in Kabul where it was quite eerie, quite nervy. Trying to squeeze into bullet-proofed vehicles and seeing guys in the front fully armed — that was when I thought, ‘Hang on a minute’.â€
As part of his visit, he and his retinue had intended to inspect Kabul Golf Club, commonly classified as the most dangerous course on earth.
But with craters bordering the fairways where bunkers ought to be, such an excursion was deemed as too risky. Montgomerie, as he points out, is no stranger to this particular spectacle. When he designed the links in his name in Vietnam, unexploded ordinance had to be cleared in the aftermath of a conflict that ended more than 30 years ago.
Golf’s presence endures in Afghanistan, though, not just among the small yet significant fraction of the civilian population but across all branches of the armed forces.
The 300-yard rifle range at Camp Bastion, a complex the size of Reading, is already being used by troops for a few swipes with the driver. Montgomerie even gave clinics there. “They need to get away from the day-to-day rigmarole of what they’re doing,†he says.
“There are no days off. They’re there for a reason. It goes back a little to the way I had to run the Ryder Cup team, in that everybody worked for everybody else.
"I always remember a great quote from when I was down in Houston at university. A janitor at Nasa, he was sweeping a corner of the floor and someone asked him what he was doing. And the guy said, ‘Well, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.’
“And it’s like that. They’re very proud, for example, of the hospital they have at Camp Bastion. However menial one’s task is within the armed forces, even if it’s cleaning the cutlery or the table, everyone is working on that essential task to keep the guys on the front line alive.â€
The memory of teaching the youth of downtown Kabul how to swing a club is also, you sense, one that lingers. “All these children have known is war. They were born in war, they remain in war, they know nothing different. Education is vital to get the country back on its feet.â€
After his transforming week, would he be prepared to travel there again? Montgomerie answers, with unmistakable passion: “You mature as a person. If I was invited again, I would go tomorrow.â€
Good on him.
[h=3]SEVEN DAYS IN AFGHANISTAN MAKE BIG IMPRESSION ON MONTY[/h]
By OLIVER BROWN
Sir Colin Montgomerie hails life-changing experience after Afghanistan morale-boosting mission with Ryder Cup
“Life-changing†is how Sir Colin Montgomerie describes his past seven days. And when this dervish of the fairways discloses that the next time he misses a four-foot putt, he will not flounce but instead accept the failure with perfect equanimity, you know that he means it.
For nothing in the Scot’s store of exotic experience could have conditioned him for a tour of Afghanistan. From tearing along Kabul’s streets in armoured vehicles, trying to screen out the perpetual din of the sirens, to giving British servicemen at Camp Bastion a first acquaintance with the Samuel Ryder Trophy, Montgomerie has seen more than enough in the last week to make him mellow.
He could be forgiven a certain exhaustion. Having flown back to RAF Brize Norton via Dubai and Cyprus in a Hercules, he shot around the M25 to Heathrow and headed straight out to Hong Kong for his next tournament.
Speaking to Telegraph Sport from the Fanling course, he discloses how profoundly his Afghan experience has affected him: “We all should live a little like I have lived this last week, and realise how lucky everyone is in Britain.
"It has been life-changing for me. If I do miss a putt of a four-foot nature out here, I will think, ‘Well, it doesn’t really matter, Colin, does it?’â€
Montgomerie had joined the expedition at the request of the Professional Golfers’ Association, which saw the capacity of a winning Ryder Cup captain to galvanise troop morale.
While the connection between Celtic Manor and Helmand province might appear hard to fathom, he explains: “They watched it out there, more so than we think.
"They had the satellite coverage via the British Forces Broadcasting Service. Many of the guys could not believe it when they saw the metal box that the Ryder Cup has to travel in for security. The number of times I’ve manhandled it, you almost take it for granted.â€
For a someone used to five-star resorts, the exposure to a few privations was powerful. “They’re on the edge, they live in fear. You ask them what they miss and some say, ‘Well, a knife and fork’, because everything has to be eaten off plastic plates. Others say simply that they miss vegetation and greenery. They’re in the middle of a desert.â€
The 48 year-old Scot is not above admitting that he feared several times for his personal safety. After all, on the very day that he returned to Brize Norton, so did four coffins.
“You do feel you are in a war zone, no question,†he acknowledges. “There were certain occasions in Kabul where it was quite eerie, quite nervy. Trying to squeeze into bullet-proofed vehicles and seeing guys in the front fully armed — that was when I thought, ‘Hang on a minute’.â€
As part of his visit, he and his retinue had intended to inspect Kabul Golf Club, commonly classified as the most dangerous course on earth.
But with craters bordering the fairways where bunkers ought to be, such an excursion was deemed as too risky. Montgomerie, as he points out, is no stranger to this particular spectacle. When he designed the links in his name in Vietnam, unexploded ordinance had to be cleared in the aftermath of a conflict that ended more than 30 years ago.
Golf’s presence endures in Afghanistan, though, not just among the small yet significant fraction of the civilian population but across all branches of the armed forces.
The 300-yard rifle range at Camp Bastion, a complex the size of Reading, is already being used by troops for a few swipes with the driver. Montgomerie even gave clinics there. “They need to get away from the day-to-day rigmarole of what they’re doing,†he says.
“There are no days off. They’re there for a reason. It goes back a little to the way I had to run the Ryder Cup team, in that everybody worked for everybody else.
"I always remember a great quote from when I was down in Houston at university. A janitor at Nasa, he was sweeping a corner of the floor and someone asked him what he was doing. And the guy said, ‘Well, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.’
“And it’s like that. They’re very proud, for example, of the hospital they have at Camp Bastion. However menial one’s task is within the armed forces, even if it’s cleaning the cutlery or the table, everyone is working on that essential task to keep the guys on the front line alive.â€
The memory of teaching the youth of downtown Kabul how to swing a club is also, you sense, one that lingers. “All these children have known is war. They were born in war, they remain in war, they know nothing different. Education is vital to get the country back on its feet.â€
After his transforming week, would he be prepared to travel there again? Montgomerie answers, with unmistakable passion: “You mature as a person. If I was invited again, I would go tomorrow.â€
