Monty top of the class once more
But it was also the day when Colin Montgomerie confirmed his status as one of the greatest European professionals when clinching the European Tour order of merit for the eighth time and the first since 1999.
“The Volvo Masters is a fantastic title and all credit to Paul McGinley for winning,” said Montgomerie. “He had a super weekend and it was one of the best weekends we’ve ever had at Valderrama and certainly the best crowds. I think it’s terrific for Paul, for Irish golf and Ireland. He’s all but sealed his Ryder Cup place and that’s good because we need as many Irish on the team as possible. He’s had a great year to almost win the World Match Play and then come here and win. But I had my own Volvo Masters to win, if you like, and I did that. I’m very, very happy.”
The good thing is that Monty won the order of merit title by some 290,000 points, rendering irrelevant the 35,000 he was credited with at the Indonesian Open though he owned up to an infringement of the rules.
Michael Campbell essentially had to finish in the top two to pip Montgomerie, and as the week evolved there was never any likelihood of that happening. But the Scot still insisted: “It’s never safe around this course. I lost six shots in the last five holes on Saturday night and I knew it was never going to be easy. The pin positions today were very tough and I had a sort of telegraph system to find out what Michael Campbell was doing. He’s had a great year but it’s always nice to come here and beat the US Open champion on a course that I love and finish third in the tournament.”
Montgomerie’s latest triumph comes on the back of a traumatic 2004. He agreed that he had to dig deep emotionally to pull this off.
“I didn’t need this. I wanted it. I found myself about 8,000 points behind Michael in San Francisco and believed then that I could do it. It was a tall order but with third place there and third again here, I managed to do it. It was not very skilful for the last two days. But there was lots and lots of self belief and lots of commitment to what I was trying to do. I was trying to hit the best shot I could at any time. I never backed off from that. I had a certain body language that I had to use. If I missed a putt, I tried to walk off looking as if I’d had a birdie. I had to stay strong and positive. And after that, the key was in the putting. I putted well from the first hole onward.”
One of the nicest touches of a memorable day for the Irish was the decision of Pádraig Harrington to delay the departure of his flight back to Dublin so that he could watch his friend and Ryder Cup and World Cup partner finish it all off. They embraced as McGinley walked off the final green and Harrington was loud in his praise.
“He’s had a great year. All he needed to do was to stay patient and the wins would come. He has upped his game this year and he had to learn that the better you play, the more you lose. He didn’t get frustrated and that’s why he won this week and I’m absolutely thrilled for him.”
After a poor opening couple of days, Harrington went on to shoot two blemishless round of 67 to race through the field into a share of 10th place and a cheque for 72,100. He finished the season in 32nd place in the money list with 671,615 and now heads off to the US Tour Championship in Atlanta this week in a far more confident frame of mind than could have been the case less than a week ago. He believes he knows why: “I did a lot of work on the practice ground on Tuesday but that doesn’t make you play better in the short term. No, the fact is I putted much better than of late, I was probably three shots a round better and if I played well on top of that, who knows what might have happened. One thing is for sure, I will walk away from this week much happier with my putting.”
When the new world rankings are published today, it could be that McGinley will find himself in the top 20 with Harrington likely to remain 13th.
However, getting back into the top 50 (he is currently 51st) will not be easy for Graeme McDowell, who dropped a shot at the 18th yesterday to fall back to level par and tied for 22nd. He stands 34th in the order of merit with €588,674. Peter Lawrie finished the Volvo Masters on six over par after a closing 70. He shared 41st spot and earned €15,950 to finish 53rd in the money list with €445,405. Damien McGrane shot a closing 72 for seven, a cheque for €22,800 and 59th place in the order of merit on €408,581.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
