Colin Montgomerie
Scotland
Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer, often referred to by one of his nicknames 'Monty'. He has had one of the finest careers in European Tour history, having won a record eight Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999, and 31 European tour victories, placing him fourth on the all time list. He is renowned also for his superb Ryder Cup performances. Montgomerie also has the dubious distinction of being one of the most accomplished players never to have won a major championship, after finishing runner-up on five occasions. Nor has he won an official tournament on the U.S. PGA Tour, unlike several of his main European rivals. His career high world ranking is second.
Personal information
Full name Colin Stuart Montgomerie OBE
Nickname Monty
Born 23 June 1963 (1963-06-23) (age 48)
Glasgow, Scotland
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Nationality Scotland
Residence Dunning, Perthshire
Spouse Eimear Wilson (1990–2006, divorced)
Gaynor Knowles (2008–)
Children Olivia, Venetia, Cameron
Career
College Houston Baptist University
Turned professional 1987
Current tour(s) European Tour (joined 1988)
Professional wins 40
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 31 (4th all time)
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament T8: 1998
U.S. Open 2nd/T2: 1994, 1997, 2006
The Open Championship 2nd: 2005
PGA Championship 2nd: 1995
Achievements and awards
Officer of the Most
Excellent Order of
the British Empire 2004
European Tour
Order of Merit winner 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year 1988
European Tour
Player of the Year 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
Early life
Although Scottish by birth and ethnicity, he was raised in Yorkshire, England, where his father James was Managing Director of Fox's Biscuits.Montgomerie spent a number of years at the Ilkley Golf Club, where he was tutored by the past professional Bill Ferguson. He was educated at both Leeds Grammar School and Strathallan School, Perthshire. During his time in Leeds, he became a supporter of Leeds United, but still remains a loyal supporter of Glasgow Rangers. His father would later become the secretary of Royal Troon Golf Club, one of Scotland's most famous clubs. Montgomerie became one of the first British golfers to go to a United States college, attending Houston Baptist University, where he played on the golf team and became its top player. In later years, many top young British golfers (including Paul Casey and Luke Donald) would follow Monty's path to United States universities.
He won three important Scottish amateur tournaments — the 1983 Scottish Youths Championship, the 1985 Scottish Stroke Play Championship, and the 1987 Scottish Amateur Championship. He also played for Scotland twice in the Eisenhower Trophy (1984 and 1986) and for Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup twice (1985 and 1987).
Between the years 1988-1991 Montgomerie completed a degree in Accountancy at the University of Stirling.
Career outline
Montgomerie turned professional in 1988, and was named the Rookie of the Year on the European Tour that season. He quickly developed into one of Europe's top pros, winning his first event at the 1989 Portuguese Open by eight shots, and making his Ryder Cup debut in 1991. He finished first on the European Tour Order of Merit every year from 1993 to 1999 (a record for most consecutive Orders of Merit), and has 31 victories on the tour, including the 1998, 1999, and 2000 European PGA Championships. He first reached the top-10 in the Official World Golf Rankings in 1994, and spent almost 400 weeks in the top-10.[4] His highest ranking was number two. In his prime Montgomerie was considered one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world and became a very precise iron player, often able to judge the distance he hit the ball exactly from long range.
His form fell away gradually in the new millennium, partly due to marriage problems, and his ranking slumped to 82nd in the world, but he came back strongly in 2005, winning a record eighth European Tour Order of Merit and returning to the top ten in the World Rankings. Late in 2005 he became the first man to win 20 million Euros on the European Tour—topping the European Tour's all-time highest earners list. He remained the leader in career earnings on the European Tour until 2010, when he was surpassed by Ernie Els.
At the end of 2004, Montgomerie was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours. He represents the Turnberry resort in Scotland, where there is a Colin Montgomerie Golf Academy.
Current form
After re-forming his partnership with caddie Alastair McLean in 2004, the pair split again on 10 June, a week before the start of the U.S. Open. With his new caddie, Craig Connoly, Montgomerie managed to win for the first time in nearly 2 years at the European Open in July 2007, silencing the critics who have asserted he would not win again.
However his form has once again deserted him, and in mid-2008 Montgomerie slipped out of the top 100 players in the world ranking system. A second place at the French Open in June boosted him back up the rankings, but his good play has been short-lived, and as a result Montgomerie failed to qualify for Nick Faldo's 2008 Ryder Cup team.
In March 2009, Montgomerie played in his milestone 500th European Tour event at the Open de Andalucia where he played well and made the cut, but was not a factor on the weekend.
Major Championships
Montgomerie is generally 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 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links 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, wound up winning the championship.
At the 1994 U.S. Open, played at Oakmont Country Club, Montgomerie lost in a three-man playoff to Ernie Els (a playoff which also included Loren Roberts). 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 birdied the final three holes of the Riviera Country Club course in the final round, 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 1997 U.S. Open, 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 2006 U.S. Open, played on the West course of the Winged Foot Golf Club, 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 17th green, which put him in the lead. While waiting in a perfect position on the 18th fairway for the group in front to finish, 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. After the loss, 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."Geoff Ogilvy won the championship.
Montgomerie has never performed really well at the Masters tournament, his best finish being tied 8th in 1998. Some would say this is not surprising, as great putting is not a strong feature of his game (this generally considered to be imperative in performing well at Augusta).
At The Open Championship, it is only in recent years that Montgomerie has shown signs of challenging to win. He started brightly in 2001 at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, with an opening 65, and still remained ahead after 36 holes, but fell away over the weekend. He was also in contention with two rounds to play at Muirfield in 2002 and Royal Troon Golf Club in 2004, but failed to capitalise and finished midway down the field. His best finish in the Championship came in 2005 at St Andrews, where he finished second to Tiger Woods, who beat him by five shots.
Ryder Cup and other team golf
Montgomerie practicing before the 2004 Ryder CupDespite his disappointments in the majors, Montgomerie is heralded as one of the greatest Ryder Cup players of all time. To date he has been a member of the European team on eight occasions, and has never lost in a singles match. He holds a win-lose-draw record of 20-9-7, thus giving him a total points scored tally of 23.5, only 1.5 points behind the all time record held by Nick Faldo. He has played pivotal roles in several of the matches. He halved the last hole with Scott Hoch to obtain the half point that won Europe the cup in 1997, and sank the winning putt, in what is considered to be his finest hour in the 2004 staging of the event.
Montgomerie was not part of Nick Faldo's 2008 Ryder Cup team, with the wildcards going to Paul Casey and Ian Poulter.
Montgomerie captained the Great Britain & Ireland team in the first four stagings of the Seve Trophy, losing in 2000 but winning in 2002, 2003, and 2005.
On 28 January 2009, it was announced that Montgomerie would be the captain the European team at the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. On 4 October 2010, Montgomerie led the European team to victory, 14½ to 13½. On the same day he also announced that he would be stepping down as captain of the European Team. In December 2010, he accepted the BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year award as captain of the victorious Ryder Cup team.
Relationship with the golfing public
Colin Montgomerie at the Austrian Open 2006Montgomerie has often come under fire for his attitude on the golf course. He is noted for his lack of focus, and quite often becomes distracted by seemingly very minor incidents. As a result, it is quite commonplace for Montgomerie to ask scorers, marshalls, television crew and members of the crowd to move or be silent during a round of golf. Compared to many of the other best players of his generation, this is quite unusual behaviour, as most other professionals tend to ignore these occurrences.
Due partly to his slumped shoulders, and droopy walking style, and wearing baggy pants, Montgomerie has also developed a reputation for being miserable on the golf course. When he is not playing his best golf, Montgomerie has down the years been quick to throw temper tantrums, often blaming those around him for his poor play. Despite this, Montgomerie has become one of golfing public's most popular figures, and remains the fan favourite at the Open Championship, especially when it is held in Scotland.
Montgomerie's struggle to get on with the American galleries is often cited as perhaps the reason he has failed to match his success in Europe with success in the United States.
Amateur wins (3) European Tour wins (31) Other wins (9)
Player profile is based on the information provided by www.en.wikipedia.org