From first to last as Montgomerie struggles
COLIN MONTGOMERIE was given the honour of hitting the opening shot of the first round but will have to shoulder the mild embarrassment of hitting the first of the fourth.
What is likely to be his final Open has taken a rather underwhelming turn, with the satisfaction he felt at making the cut on Friday replaced by the irritation of a 79 yesterday.
That round sent him to the very bottom of the field and means he will play with a marker in what could be his last ever lap at The Open.
It all unravelled on the return stretch for the 53-year-old after a reasonable start. Commencing his day at four over, Montgomerie dropped a shot at the second before pulling it back at the par-three fifth. That, though, is when it started to slip for the eight-time winner of the European Tour’s Order of Merit. He bogeyed the long par five at six and rounded off the front with a five on nine, taking him two over for the day.
The way in proved more problematic, even if he did become one of the few this week to birdie the 11th, which has played the hardest on the course and was shortened by 100 yards yesterday because of the conditions. That was a high-point surrounded by difficulties, with Montgomerie carding a six on the par four at 10 and bogeying the 13th and 14th.
A second double at 15 meant four dropped strokes in three holes and a bogey at 18 left him eight over for the day, 12 over through
three rounds. He walked from the course without giving any interviews and went to do his Sky commentary work — with fellow analyst Rich Beem offering to be his marker for the final round — but still the experience of reaching his first Open since 2010 is a positive one. His aim was to reach the weekend at the Troon course where he grew up playing.
He succeeded, proving in his first-round 71 he can still mix with the best of them on the links. But his charge simply ran out of steam.