Monty’s game shows signs of previous high

COLIN MONTGOMERIE believes his game is returning to the level of the all-conquering days when he dominated the European Tour after carding a seven-under-par 65 in defence of his Caltex Masters title in Singapore.

The 41-year-old Scot was in scintillating form at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club as seven birdies and no bogeys gave him a three-stroke lead over English duo Nick Dougherty and Mark Foster, and Malaysia’s Danny Chia.

A year ago Montgomerie dropped only one shot in four rounds on his way to a three-stroke victory on the same course but he believes he is in even better shape than 12 months ago. He even went as far as saying yesterday’s round reminded him of happier times when he won the European Order of Merit seven times in a row.