Confident Monty is aiming high again

FINISHING second to Tiger Woods at the British Open has convinced Colin Montgomerie that all things are possible again.

With the cheers of the St Andrews crowd still fresh in his mind and the US PGA championship just a week away Montgomerie said yesterday his confidence is at a level he has not felt for five years.

And that confidence could be given another sizeable boost in the Johnnie Walker Championship starting at Gleneagles today - a top-two finish will send Montgomerie to Baltusrol as number one on the European Order of Merit.

That is a position he has not occupied since completing a phenomenal seven successive money list titles in 1999.

“It is nice to know it can come back,” said the 42-year-old. “A lot of you - and I - had doubts, thinking ‘Monty is past his best, he has had his time at the top.’

“If I win it (Order of Merit) again it would be worth much more than all seven put together.

“I haven’t been there for a while, but believe me, I know exactly what to do when I get there.”

While he has long maintained his previous run of success contributed to the break-up of his marriage because he became so obsessed about it, Montgomerie clearly feels ready to aim as high as he can again.

Indeed, he has prepared for such a time.

“There is a trophy in my apartment with my seven Order of Merits around it. There is a gap in the middle with a question mark on it for what year might be number eight.”

Before that, though, comes another chance to capture his first major.

Montgomerie finished five strokes behind Woods but the fact that he beat everyone else still made it one of the best performances of his career in his own opinion.

“I finished second to the best player in the world, the best player of our generation,” he added.

“I’ve now finished second in three of the four majors and almost have a Grand Slam of second places, but after what happened at the Open I have to look back on the positives and not the negatives.

“You’re bound to wonder how many chances you will get, but let’s hope there is another and that it might be the time that the door opens for me and I can actually walk through it rather than it being closed on me.

“I’m almost back to where I was in the Nineties. I think I’m a putt a round away - four shots a tournament. That’s not bad.”

Montgomerie is, of course, entitled to feel unlucky that he does not already have at least one major to his name.

He lost play-offs to Ernie Els and Steve Elkington in the 1994 US Open and 1995 US PGA respectively and was also second to Els again in the 1997 US Open.

Although second place would enable him to overtake US Open champion Michael Campbell at the head of the money list a win is what Montgomerie has really come looking for. His last one was March last year.

With the final major of the season coming up only two others from the world’s top 50 take part this week - Australian Richard Green and England’s David Howell.

Howell has been out of action since tearing an abdominal muscle at the US Open in June.