Douglas hails ‘magical’ Monty

FILM actors are often given to hyperbole and self absorption. but when Michael Douglas last night described his playing partner Colin Montgomerie’s round of 65 at St Andrews as “magical” he was actually spot on.

Pro after pro wondered how anybody could have played the venerable old links in seven under when it was being swept by icy, forty-mile-an-hour winds. But Monty, runner-up to Tiger Woods here in the Open Championship in July, hardly put a foot wrong all day and if anything looked more and more composed as the elements worsened through the afternoon.

At the end of the day, he had improved to nine under par and led the €4 million Dunhill Links Championship by a shot from Englishman Kenneth Ferrie and by two from the Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez and Pierre Fulke of Sweden.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for the six strong Irish contingent with Padraig Harrington playing himself into contention with a second round of 70 for a four under par total of 140.

However, Darren Clarke fell back into the pack with a 75 for one under, the same mark as Damien McGrane and Graeme McDowell, while Gary Murphy and Paul McGinley are on one over and left with work to do today at Kingsbarns if they are to fight their way into the top sixty who survive into tomorrow’s final round at St Andrews. They are tied for 75th.

Harrington, in contrast, has jumped up to a share of 11th and is also enthused that he and JP McManus share 7th place in the team section on 14 under, three off the pace.

Whereas some pros hate the pro-am format, Harrington has always enjoyed it and accordingly is much sought after as a partner and of course he and McManus led the way home here in 2002.

Montgomerie’s heroics apart, the Old Course proved as formidable a test as ever and in the circumstances, Padraig had good reason to be reasonably satisfied with a round of 70.

“I made a few clubbing errors early on for bogeys at the second and fourth and to be honest I didn’t play the next three very well but holed twenty footers for birdie at each of them and they made my round,” he reported.

“I played nicely after that but it is always difficult to judge the wind at St Andrews if you want to get the ball close so I’m happy enough with two under. Montgomerie’s seven under par is the hell of a score but the wind is the key. Obviously he started well and didn’t notice the wind. Personally, I wouldn’t judge my game on this sort of links golf. Your scoring out there has nothing to do with how you’re swinging the golf club, it’s all about how you’re thinking.

“I’d rather swing it badly and think right than swing it well and think badly. It’s about getting your head in the right place and making the right decisions. St Andrews is definitely the toughest of the three courses because they’re using all the back tees.

“I’m still very much in the tournament. I would like to have made birdie from six feet at the 18th, especially as I had made a good four at 17 after being in the Road bunker. Better focus, that’s it, no need to work on anything in my game. I need to make my mind up on how I’m going to play the shot early rather than making my decision when I’m standing over the ball. Somebody thinking well picks the shot and sticks with that shot.”

Darren Clarke had played himself into a nice position after Thursday’s 68 at Carnoustie, but he never really got going yesterday and as the weather got worse and worse, the less chance there was of him improving the situation.

The same applied to Graeme McDowell who went into the day off the back of a 69 at Carnoustie. He was rocked by three putting from twenty feet at the first, the easiest of the early holes at the Old Course, and when he missed from under a yard at the second, he was under a lot of pressure.

“I continued to make nothing and to be honest, the greens were bumpy and not much fun to putt on,” he observed.

It’s not been as good a year for McDowell as he would have liked and he realised that his chance of a big prize this week was gone when he duffed a little chip into the bunker guarding the flag at the short 11th and took a double bogey. McDowell and his amateur partner Dermot Desmond are in 37th spot in the team section on ten under and needing a big round at Kingsbarns today to crash the top twenty.

Damien McGrane, who began at the 10th at St Andrews, once again proved himself to be as game as they come by improving from two over par through 13 to one under at the finish thanks to birdies at the fifth, sixth and ninth.

But Paul McGinley, who came to St Andrews with high hopes of a big finish that would further cement his place at the top of the Ryder Cup points list, now admits that it is not going to happen.

With typical honesty, he made no excuses as he commented: “I played poorly yesterday and got what I deserved with a 74 at Carnoustie. I played decently today and deserved better than 71. It’s been a very flat week so far. I’m eleven off the pace and I’m not going to win. I have no excuses. I don’t feel tired in any way, I’ve just taken a little bit of time getting used to links conditions again but in terms of fatigue, no. I haven’t been on the pace and that’s the bottom line.”

McGinley’s frustration was all the keener as he watched his playing partner Colin Montgomerie shoot 65, an achievement he obviously felt contrasted sharply with his own day.

He claimed it was “one of those days” for Montgomerie. “He putted magnificently and there was nothing out there that he didn’t hole. He also hit a lot of good iron shots that ended up close to the hole, he holed a sixty foot putt for eagle, a great up and down off the road at 17. It all went for him.”

Gary Murphy bogeyed his first two holes at St Andrews, the 10th and 11th, and after that it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Kilkennyman. In those circumstances, 74 was a decent enough effort but, like McGinley, he can afford precious few errors if he is to be around tomorrow.