Colin Montgomerie admitted on Wednesday that he was afraid this year's Ryder Cup may be without a Scottish player for the first time in more than 70 years.

Montgomerie, currently out of the running for a Ryder Cup spot, is the only top-100 player from the home of golf, which he said was going through a "transition".

"We've been going through a transition for 30 years," joked the eight-time European merit winner.

"I suppose I've managed to play on the Ryder Cup team for the last few times, so at least I have some representation.

"If I don't play this year, we might not have a representative for the first time in modern history, so we've got to get going."

Scotland has been represented at every Ryder Cup since 1937 and will host the 2014 edition at Gleneagles. However, 'Monty' said there were only a few up-and-coming Scots capable of making the grade.

"There are Scottish golfers coming through, but not to the same extent as the other home countries," he said.

"So we have to work on that and build on that."

Montgomerie is a hero of the event, remaining unbeaten in singles matches and credited with exerting huge influence over the European team, which has beaten the United States four times in the past five.

However he is currently languishing in 36th on the World Points List and 23rd on the European Points List, with five qualifiers coming from each along with two captain's picks.