LONDON (AFP) European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie said on Sunday he was ready for the biggest week of his life and he hoped that the end result would be as he had dreamt it would be at the Welsh course of Celtic Manor. The 47-year-old Scot, who played in eight Ryder Cups and reserved some of his greatest performances for them, wrote in his column for the Sunday Telegraph that he would also not swap any of his Ryder Cup experiences for the major that eluded him throughout his career. Let the biggest week of my life commence, said Montgomerie, who finished runner-up five times in majors. I have imagined it for a very long time and let us hope the outcome is as I have always dreamt it, added Montgomerie, who never lost a singles match in Ryder Cup play. Montgomerie, whose overall Ryder Cup record of 23.5 points is just 1.5 points short of the all-time European record held by Sir Nick Faldo, said that his love of the biennial event overshadowed anything else in his career. Of course I would love to have won a major and the ones that narrowly got away such as Winged Foot (2006 US Open) will always haunt me. However, hand on heart I wouldnt swap my eight Ryder Cup experiences even if it were an option. I love everything about the Ryder Cup, from the atmosphere, the team spirit, the pride that you feel as you put on the European uniform, the tension on the first tee to the team room banter. Montgomerie, whose fearsome temper is seen as a potentially weak part of his captains make-up, says that while he learnt a lot about the art of captaincy from all his Ryder Cup captains he would be drawing on two of them in particular this week. Bernard Gallacher (1991/93/95) was a great communicator and hugely popular among the players, Seve Ballesteros (1997) was unrivalled in the passion, energy and enthusiasm which infected the entire team. Ian Woosnam (2006) brought a unique understanding of his players; never missing an opportunity to instil confidence. However, overall I think my captaincy style will combine a lot of Bernhard Langer (2004) and Sam Torrance (2002), both of whom I admire enormously. One captain he did not mention was Faldo, who has complained that Montgomerie had not replied to his invitation to call on him for advice. However there appear to be two reasons for that: Faldos captaincy two years ago is seen as the equivalent of that of Hal Suttons disastrous stewardship of the US in 2004 and secondly Montgomerie revealed in his column that not being part of the team had hurt him deeply. If I had to pinpoint the worst moment of my career, it wouldnt be the duffed approach on the 18th at Winged Foot as many might expect, but rather the moment I found out that I wasnt on the 2008 team - listening to the message from Sir Nick Faldo informing me I wasnt to receive a captains pick and I wouldnt play any part in Europes 2008 campaign. Montgomerie for his part has come under fire over his captains picks, especially the contentious choice of out of form three-time major winner Padraig Harrington ahead of Justin Rose or Paul Casey, but the captain insists this shows the strength of the European players in that he is spolit for choice. We had an embarrassment of riches at our disposal this year and I have said many times that we wished the team would contain 20 players, he said. The fact that world-class players and multiple winners are not in the team shows how far the Tour has come.