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Monty clarifies Twitter rules

Newport - Colin Montgomerie clarified the rules of his Twitter crackdown on Tuesday, saying it was okay for Europe's Ryder Cup stars to tweet as long as they didn't divulge secrets from the team room.

A clearly exasperated Montgomerie was asked for his final comments on what was dubbed "Twitter-gate" after England's Ian Poulter continued posting updates on the site despite a ban being announced earlier by the European captain.

"Tweeting has not been banned. Banning things is very dangerous, because, say, someone does it, how can you then say anything?" Montgomerie said.

"I thought I was the captain of a golf team, not the captain of a tweeting organisation," he added.

"Whatever they do, whatever they are, respect is shown for what is said within the team room. They can do whatever they have to do elsewhere regarding, you know, their thoughts and what have you.

"But at the same time, whatever is said within that team room stays within that team room so they respect that decision."

Poulter had earlier said Montgomerie had not banned Twitter but "had asked to be respectful to the team's privacy."

Fellow Ryder Cup player Graeme McDowell, another avid user of Twitter, also spoke out in support of Montgomerie.

"He trusts us not to do something stupid," McDowell said. "There have been some pretty bad mistakes made on Twitter in the past few months."

Montgomerie said Monday he had outlawed his players from using sites such as Twitter and Facebook during Ryder Cup week following the controversy involving cricketer Kevin Pietersen earlier this month.

Pietersen was hit with an undisclosed fine after posting a tirade on Twitter in reaction to his omission from England's limited overs squads.

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