Tag Archives: Colin Montgomerie

Montgomerie Tips McIlroy To Win All Four Majors Next Year

Ex European Ryder Cup Captain and eight time Order Of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie has stuck his neck out and said that he thinks Northern Irishmen Rory McIlroy can win all four major titles next season.

He only has to win The Masters and the US Open next year to emulate the achievements of Tiger Woods who has held all four majors at once, but Montgomerie believes he can win all four and gain an unprecedented six-major sweep for the first time in the history of the sport.

The only player to win all four majors in one season was Bobby Jones but this came back in the 1930’s before The Masters was introduced and two of the grand slam tournaments were for amateurs.

There’s no doubt that McIlroy is the best player in the world right now and will dominate the game for the next 5 years, but winning all of the majors in one season is one hell of a task and something that I believe way beyond McIlroy’s dreams.

There are just too many good other players now compared to many years ago, and although McIlroy is way better than most, it only takes one off day in a major championship for him to be overtaken by someone waiting in the wings.

I’m not saying it’s impossible but it is highly unlikely, and be a betting man like am I will not even be looking at the odds for this one.

 

Monty Shoots 69 In First Champions Tour Event

Colin Montgomerie entered new territory this week when he played in his first Champions Tour event in Pittsburgh.

After turning 50 last week Monty played alongside good friend Bernhard Langer and made a solid start with an opening round of 69 which is one over par for the tournament, but finds himself four shots behind leader John Houston who opened up with a 65.

It was a day dominated by Americans who fill the 10 top spots but i’m sure the Europeans will fight back in great Ryder Cup fashion!

The Irish Open is taking nice shape where another Ryder Cup legend Jose Maria Olazabal is near the top of the leaderboard, one shot behind Robert Rock and Peter Uihlein.

Rory McIlroy will be hoping for a better day after his opening round of 74 yesterday, he finds himself eleven shots off the lead as it stands and is in danger of missing yet another cut this year.

Another great weekend of golf coming up. Enjoy!

Rose Win To Boost English Players Performance At Majors

It’s been a 43 year wait but finally England can be proud once again and finally be able to celebrate a US Open win by the great Justin Rose.

In a week that saw many different players top the leaderboard at some point we all knew that the winning score was going to be around the level par mark and that it would be a player who showed the most patience and accepted that sometimes a bogey was a good score on hole if they were going to win.

English players have been knocking on the door for some time now since Nick Faldo was the last Englishman to win a major at the 1996 Masters when he overcame a seven shot deficit to beat Greg Norman in the final round.

We’ve had Colin Montgomerie fall at the last hurdle on a couple of occasions, we’ve seen Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood come so close but not quite able to finish the job off, but hopefully now Rose has won a major it will inspire others to do so and make them believe that they can.

It wasn’t long ago when Padraig Harrington won his first major and a second shortly followed which then we saw the likes of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy do the same.

Lets just hope that this is start of something big for English golf.

Should Monty Be In The World Golf Hall Of Fame?

There is a lot of debate at the moment regarding whether Colin Montgomerie should be inducted into the World Golf Hall Of Fame and the decision has been heavily criticised by Tony Jacklin and Ray Floyd who take the stance that a player should have won at least two majors to be considered.

Montgomerie known as probably the best player never to win a major has had an illustrious  career winning eight European Tour order of merits  which includes seven in a row, and has one of the best Ryder Cup records in history. 

Does this mean that if Ben Curtis wins another major in his career that he will be seen as achieved more in golf than Montgomerie? I don’t think so. I agree that to be seen as a truly great player in world golf you have to have won major champions, but if the list includes players such as Sandy Lyle and Vijay Singh (who I know have won majors ) then it has to include a player like Monty in  my opinion.

He has achieved a lot more than some players on that list even without a major to his name and was the most consistent golfer on tour for around 10 years.

 

Montgomerie Backs New European Ryder Cup Captain McGinley

Colin Montgomerie has told Paul McGinley that he has his backing and will support him  in every way he can after the Dubliner was appointed Ryder Cup captain for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. 

The European Tour committee  confirmed McGinley as captain yesterday evening in Abu Dhabi ahead of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship which starts tomorrow. McGinley had to fight off a few strong contenders to get the position including  Scotland’s Sandy Lyle and Spains Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Montgomerie who has a fantastic record in the Ryder Cup matches and won as captain in 2010 was a late contender for the job after it was announced the Tom Watson would be leading the US team out to battle. But is was McGinley who was successful.

Montgomerie said he is confident that McGinley has the experience after two Ryder Cups as vice-captain.

 

Strongest Dunhill Line-Up Ever

Paul Lawrie probably known as Scotland’s best player now and England’s World Number Four Lee Westwood are going to be leading the home challenge for this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrews.

These two players have won this event before and we will be up against it this year as a strong field includes no fewer than 11 Major champions.

Westwood who won this event back in 2003 said: “I’m hoping for two memorable weeks: victory for The Ryder Cup team in the United States and then back to St Andrews for a second Dunhill victory.

Ernie Els who is the current Open champion and a four-time Major winner leads a strong South African line-up, including  2011 US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen. 

We will also see appearances from Colin Montgomerie and Martin Laird, plus England’s Paul Casey and Simon Dyson who won in 2009.

But let’s not get too excited or ahead of ourselves, we still have the Ryder Cup to decide first and this will be a bit of a comedown for a lot of the players. Well hopefully only the European ones!

Dyson ready for Irish title defence

It’s been 15 years since somebody successfully defend the Irish Open, but Simon Dyson will try and do so and take the trophy at the €2million event which takes place at Royal Portrush Golf Club from June 28-July 1.

Dyson shot 2 rounds of 67 over the weekend at last year’s Irish Open which earned him his sixth European Tour title, and the Yorkshireman is now trying to follow in the footsteps of Colin Montgomerie, who won the title in 1996 and 1997.

With only dropping 3 shots at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club last year in a fantastic display which he labelled his “best of the year”, Dyson is hopeful those memories will act as the catalyst for a successful title defence  at Royal Portrush who are holding the Irish Open for the first time since 1947.

Sergio Wins Two On The Bounce

Sergio Garcia climbed back into golf’s world’s top 20 with a victory in the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama in Spain.

Garcia, 31, started the day two shots clear of compatriot Miguel Angel Jimenez and survived a shaky start to take his second title in a week.

The Spaniard ended a three-year title drought last weekend with an emphatic 11-shot victory at the Castello Masters and closed out victory with a 71.

Jimenez led at the turn but finished a shot back on five under after a 70.

Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, leader going into the weekend, briefly jumped into a share of the lead with Garcia on the back nine, only to shank his tee shot on the par-three 15th.

His ball was only found after the five-minute search time had elapsed and the resulting double bogey effectively ended his hopes.

It’s great to see Sergio’s hunger back for golf, and he actually seemed to be enjoying the fight on the back nine with Jimenez.

Jimenez was playing some great golf at times and was desperately unlucky with a couple of birdie putts that so nearly dropped in the closing stretch.

Watching the event live on TV bought back a lot of memories of the Ryder Cup in 1997, especially watching Sergio playing the 18th reminded me of when Colin Montgomerie hit a brilliant tee shot and managed to close out victory against Scott Hoch in what was one of the best Ryder Cups ever!

Great Players Never To Win A Major | Number 1 | Colin Montgomerie

Montgomerie is definately considered to be one of the best golfers never to have won a major championship, after finishing in second place on five separate occasions. During what most consider to be his best years in the 1990s Montgomerie had several close shaves. A third place at the  U.S. Open in 1992  at  was the first of these. He was prematurely congratulated by Jack Nicklaus who said “Congratulations on your first U.S. Open victory” to Monty after he finished the 18th hole on Sunday. Tom Kite who was still on the golf course when Montgomerie finished, ended up winning the championship.  I think Monty’s golfing career could have been a hell of a lot different if he had won at Pebble Beach

At the U.S.Open in 1994 , played at Oakmont Country Club, Montgomerie’s  bad luck continued as he lost in a three-man play-off to Ernie Els. Famously, Montgomerie was left with only one shirt to play in during the Monday playoff, a dark tartan design, which did not help his cause in the very hot playing conditions. He shot 78 to trail the 74s shot by Els and Roberts, with Els eventually winning at the 20th extra hole.

At the 1995 PGA Championship, Montgomerie amazingly birdied the final three holes of the Riviera Country Club course in the final round (which surprised everyone and made people think this was his time to shine) to tie Steve Elkington at 17 under par, which was a record low score in a major championship. On the first sudden-death playoff hole, after being in better position after two shots, Montgomerie missed his putt, while Elkington holed from 35 feet to claim the title.

Ernie Els once again got the better of Montgomerie at the  U.S. Open in 1997 played at Congressional Country Club. Montgomerie’s 65 in the opening round is considered to be one of the finest rounds in U.S. Open history, but a 76 in the second round brought him back to the field. A bogey on the 71st hole dropped Montgomerie one shot behind Els, who parred the last to win.

However, it was at the U.S. Open 2006, where Montgomerie had his best chance to win his elusive first major. He stood in the middle of the 18th fairway in the final round having sunk a 50-foot birdie putt on the previous hole, which put him in the outright  lead. While waiting in a perfect position on the 18th fairway for the group in front to clear the green.  Montgomerie switched his club from a 6-iron to a 7-iron, assuming adrenaline would kick in. Once the wait was over, he hit the approach shot poorly, ending up short and right of the green, in thick rough. He pitched onto the green, and then three-putted from 30 feet to lose the tournament by one stroke.  Montgomerie said, “At my age I’ve got to think positively. I’m 43 next week, and it’s nice I can come back to this tournament and do well again, and I look forward to coming back here again next year and trying another U.S. Open disaster.”

I’ve put Monty at number one because he has achieved about as much as it is possible to achieve in golf without winning a major, and in my opinion achieved more than a lot of other past major winners.

The Vivendi ‘Seve’ Trophy

The Vivendi Trophy kicks off this week in France, the Ryder Cup style event takes place every two years. The Vivendi Trophy 2011 will take place from 15th to 18thSeptember at the Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche Golf Course.
Following the success of its 2009 version, the second edition of this great competition, initiated and organised by CANAL+ EVENTS, will once again put the 10 best players in Continental Europe in a head to head with the elite of Great Britain and Ireland.

A new champion at the helm

Jose Maria Olazabal will succeed Colin Montgomerie as the Ryder Cup 2012 Team Captain. The Spanish champion will then head the Seve Trophy 2011. “Txema” may, like Monty did in 2009, oversee and observe the two teams. This arrival is also highly symbolic: we all remember the achievements of the fearsome pair in the Ryder Cup with Olazabal and Ballesteros. For Jose Maria, the Vivendi Trophy will be a great moment in many respects.

Colin Montgomerie will also be present at this meeting to share a few words of wisdom with the new Captain, to fulfil his role as Vivendi golf ambassador, but more importantly, to pay tribute to the Spanish champion.

I’m looking forward to watching some great golf this week, tell me who you think is going to win? And who will be the key players?

To see more on the Vivendi Trophy Click Here