Monty props up Euro flops

IRONIC, wasn’t it, that when a couple of Europeans finally got into the shake-up for a major, it should have been two of the older generation that did so.

And as Tiger Woods turned up the temperature coming down the stretch at St Andrews on Sunday, neither Colin Montgomerie nor Jose-Maria Olazabal were well and truly roasted.

Both played extremely well and you could hardly argue with Montgomerie when he claimed "it is no disgrace to be beaten by the best player of our generation."

He and Olly believe they can take a whole lot of positives not to mention precious world ranking points which will ensure them a pretty lengthy stay in the all-important top 50 from the occasion.

Monty is now 22nd and Olazabal comes in at 40th. In the end, though, they had to give best to Woods, who had five strokes to spare in spite of finishing bogey, par when you have to suspect he would have been two better should the need have arisen.

Sadly, he was never asked the serious questions from the 13th onward. Monty and Olly faded and what had for much of the afternoon been a three-horse race quickly became a soft touch for Woods.

You would like to believe that Pádraig Harrington would have raised European hopes because he's in form, likes St Andrews and would have been perfectly at home on a bone hard, fast running links. However, circumstances dictated otherwise and his absence was a great pity.

With the exception of 42-year-old Montgomerie, Harrington's Ryder Cup team-mates of September '04 were a bitter disappointment. Sergio Garcia continues to threaten in the majors. He was third in the US Open and for much of last week he was there or thereabouts.

But he is experiencing ever greater difficulty in finishing the job off and had ceased to be a factor long before the finish, although the record books will show that he was one of six players to share fifth place, albeit seven behind Woods.

Darren Clarke showed what he is capable of on Saturday with a sparkling 67 and one waited in keen expectation of another big round on Sunday. Alas, his game was completely lacking in inspiration. He never got going and managed only a single birdie on a day when all around were shooting red figures.

It's not easy for him, given the serious nature of his wife's illness and he won't be seen again for another three weeks. The USPGA at Baltusrol, New Jersey will be his objective on that

occasion and while you hope that Clarke can regain the form that saw him finish 4th in the Smurfit European Open and 2nd in the Barclays Scottish Open in successive weeks, it is difficult to see him rediscovering the competitive edge so essential if he is to challenge Woods and the rest.

Ian Poulter shows signs that he is more than a brightly dressed, flash young man by getting under 70 on Sunday to share 11th.

But after Clarke in 15th place came Thomas Levet, 34th; Paul McGinley, 41st and Luke Donald and Miguel Angel Jimenez, 52nd. The young Englishman may well be regarded as the biggest flop of the lot but that would be to overlook the fact that Lee Westwood and Paul Casey didn't even make the cut while David Howell, like Harrington, was a late defection because of injury.

In fact Bernhard Langer outshone all but Montgomerie and Garcia of his Oakland Hills Ryder Cup side at St Andrews which doesn't say a whole lot for Europe's prospects at The K-Club next year.

However, that would be to overlook some fine performances by likely team contenders, most notably Graeme

McDowell, who turned in by far his best performance in a "major" by sharing 11th place.

His 67 on Sunday was best of the day and while Woods wasn't referring directly to the Ulsterman, he was full of praise for those who played earlier in the day when the conditions were a lot tougher.

Whether McDowell would have gone so low had he been in contention for the title is a moot point but the fact remains that he is gaining in experience and confidence all the time. Nor does he allow a bad hole or anything else to upset his momentum which is still the case with, say, Darren Clarke.

Many players who ran up a quadruple bogey eight at the 17th in the third round of the Open might well have thrown in the towel. Instead,

McDowell says he went out and had a few pints of Guinness on Saturday, forgot about it and came out fighting the following morning.

He was rewarded for positive thinking with a splendid five under par round and insisted that the Open Championship will be his one day and that it might well happen whenever the event returns to St Andrews! That's confidence for you and the improving, solid nature of McDowell's game suggests it may well be founded.

And if the Europeans had little to crow about, the Americans, with the exception, obviously, of Woods also had little to enthuse over. Forty somethings like Fred Couples (tied 3rd) and Kenny Perry (tied 11th) were next best of their contingent and after that came John Daly and Sean O'Hair in a share of 15th.

It is nothing short of amazing that a country of the size of the US and with such a high powered collegiate system cannot produce even one outstanding young golfer these days.

They should give up, for the moment anyway, on any talk about Charles Howell 111 who has proved a huge underachiever and missed the cut at St Andrews.

The Yanks will be back in the security of their own cash-laden home tour this week while their European counterparts are off to Hamburg for the Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe.

Pádraig Harrington is a past winner of the event and returns to action along with the usual Irish suspects with the exception of Darren Clarke.

Harrington, McGinley and McDowell then take two weeks off before heading for the US and the PGA and WGC NEC Championships.