Colin Montgomerie yesterday said that he would have done some things differently to Nick Faldo last week - and that it would be a "a shame" if fellow Scot Sandy Lyle is not made captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Asked if he thought Faldo got the best of the team beaten by five points at Valhalla, Montgomerie, not part of the action for the first time since 1989, replied: "Possibly not."

The eight-time European No.1, who could have gone past Faldo's cup points record if he had been given a wild card, gave a broad hint that he thought Faldo putting Open and PGA champion Padraig Harrington out last in the singles was the biggest mistake. "It occurred to me when he saw the order that unfortunately Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Harrington are possibly our three strongest players and they might not be - might be, but might not be - involved in the final shake-up," said Montgomerie.

"Play them earlier and they would have been involved 100%. Only once in the whole history of the Ryder Cup has the No.12 decided the match. Bernhard Langer in 1991," he added.

Although there has already been talk of successful 2006 captain Ian Woosnam returning into the job for the first ever match on Welsh soil, Montgomerie has spoken up for Lyle. Of Europe's "Big Five" of the 1980s - Seve Ballesteros, Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Lyle and Woosnam - only Lyle has not yet been given the captaincy. "I think it would be nice to see him," said Montgomerie. "I feel it would be a shame if it wasn't Sandy."

Montgomerie added that no amount of money would change his mind about wanting to play again rather than captain next time and that it did not take Einstein to work out the next three leaders.

By that he means Lyle in 2010, Jose Maria Olazabal in Chicago in 2012 and then himself at Gleneagles in 2014. By then Montgomerie hopes Europe will have copied the United States by having four wild cards rather than the current two - and if not, then he will certainly be asking for that.

Lee Westwood, meanwhile, is turning his focus away from the Valhalla defeat and, unlike last week, should not have any abuse to put up with at The Belfry this week, but fatigue could well be a factor in his defence of the Quinn Direct British Masters.

Of Faldo's Ryder Cup side, only Westwood and Graeme McDowell are in action on the course that staged the 1985, 1989, 1993 and 2002 events.

Oliver Wilson was to have played as well, but withdrew because he did not think he was able to give his best after his Ryder Cup debut.

Westwood played in four of the five sessions in Kentucky and also had to cope with some "shameful" heckling as well, although he now regrets some of the comments he made.

"A lot of what I said didn't come out quite as I intended and finished up sounding like sour grapes," he said in a statement issued by his management company yesterday.

"So let me say right now that I applaud America's victory, Paul Azinger's captaincy in general and the vast majority of the watching public who witnessed a titanic struggle between two very good sides.

"I regret that I singled out a small minority of the crowd who had a go at me and my family during competition days because far and away the greater majority were impeccably behaved and got right behind their team, as did the excellent European supporters.

"My comments about the hecklers and Paul's geeing up the crowd before the event were in no way intended to be an excuse or the words of an ungracious loser.

"I may not have been too thrilled with one or two things that happened in Valhalla, but I am taking absolutely nothing away from America's win.

"When you're beaten by a better side, you just have to admit it."

McDowell and Westwood have both been given a late tee-off in today's opening round to allow them more rest.

Westwood is bound to carry the biggest gallery of the day because he is paired with Montgomerie and former US Open champion Michael Campbell.