Monty needs match play lift
Montgomerie has slipped to 57th in the standings, outside the all- important top 50 which guarantees entry into major championships and the biggest and most lucrative events.
As things stand, the former seven- time European number one is not even exempt for this year's British Open championship at his home course of Royal Troon, or the US Open he came so close to winning on three occasions.
His first target is to qualify for the Players Championship on the US Tour in four weeks' time, an event often labelled "The Fifth Major".
However, the 40-year-old has just three events left in which to get back into the top 50 and qualify to play at Sawgrass, and his record in the first of them leaves a lot to be desired.
In the four times it has been played at La Costa, Montgomerie has reached the second round once, and his lowly world ranking means he has drawn a tough opponent in Zimbabwe's Nick Price in today's first round.
"Am I 57th in the world over the last two years? Probably yes," admitted Montgomerie, whose appearance in this year's US Masters will be his 49th consecutive major.
"Last year was particularly bad and I dropped out of the league, I got relegated. I'm not complaining about it, the system is actually fair, I just have to do something about it.
"It's something I have to try and address. You know you're not in some of the majors and The Players Championship so I have to do something about it. I've got three weeks, here then Dubai and Singapore, to get into the top 50 in the world to get into the TPC."
Montgomerie admits he was taken aback to find out just how far he had fallen from a high of world number two in 1996 and 1997, and revealed he would try to qualify for the US Open if he was not exempt.
"When I was number two in the world behind Greg Norman I didn't check the rankings much but recently, because I'm having to reschedule events because I'm not in them, I check more regularly," he added.
"The week before playing in Malaysia I went from 48th to 55th and I didn't play. I thought 'bloody hell!' What happened there?' I've played three events this year with a lowest finish of 16th and already I've gone from 41st to 57th.
"I'd go to qualifying for the US Open if necessary. It's a tournament I think I can win. I'll do everything I can to play in it."
Montgomerie's cause this week is not helped by his late arrival from Malaysia after he missed his intended flight on Sunday evening because of the delays in Kuala Lumpur.
"It's strange to try and get in a four round tournament where play stops every day at 4pm because that's when it rains. You can set your watch by it," added Montgomerie.
"But we managed to get four rounds in, grabbed a plane and we had a practice round yesterday and go today. No problem.
"I'm not firing on all cylinders but generally I'm playing quite well. I had eight three putts last week which is at least six too many, and those six shots would have put me in third place.
"I look forward to match play although my record here is very, very poor. Why I don't know, coincidence hopefully.
"We'll see if we can do a little bit better this year but you never know. Any one person on any one day can beat anybody here."
Montgomerie's slide has also coincided with that of other European players so there is no European in the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time since they began in April 1986.
Ireland's Padraig Harrington is the top ranked at 12th with Darren Clarke just one place behind. Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn are the only others inside the top 20.
However, neither Montgomerie nor Harrington is overly concerned about the situation, and the Dubliner believes it could change in the near future.
"To be honest we don't really deserve to have anybody there, we're not setting the world alight at the moment," said Harrington, whose record at this event is as bad as Montgomerie's.
"We don't have players winning majors (Paul Lawrie was the last European in 1999), and that's why we don't have anybody in the top five or 10.
"We're not in the era when we had Faldo, Seve, Woosnam or Langer winning majors. It's a different time but I think that will change around soon as there are some good players coming up.
"I don't think there is any cause for concern. These things go in cycles."
Harrington finished 37th in Malaysia last week in his first tournament of 2004 and was not too optimistic about his chances against Japan's Toshi Izawa in the first round.
"I struggle in this event," said Harrington, who took nine weeks off at the end of last year.
"It's early in the year and I struggle on the course. I always take a while to get back into it but you have to start somewhere. I hope to play well but I'm not competitive enough, not sharp enough."
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