Clarke denies Montgomerie rift

“WHATEVER my personal view might be, the reason I’m not playing the Seve Trophy is because of my schedule.”

It was with this slightly ambiguous comment that Darren Clarke last night refuted a newspaper report that he “will hand Colin Montgomerie a massive snub by refusing to play for him in the Seve Trophy next month.”

It was also alleged that Clarke’s decision was a reaction to the storm over Monty’s incorrect drop at the Indonesian Open in March.

Clarke and Montgomerie, members of the rival International Sports Management (ISM) and IMG (International Management Group), are also colleagues on the influential European Tour’s Tournament Committee. At a meeting of this body, Clarke and his close friend Lee Westwood, another member of the ISM stable, made no secret of their annoyance at the manner in which Montgomerie appeared to considerably improve his lie and stance after an overnight cessation of play caused by lightning in Indonesia.

That meeting issued a statement expressing its “dissatisfaction” with the way Monty handled the situation and the Scot himself accepted that he had made a mistake and apologised.

The controversy has been simmering away ever since. Journeyman Gary Evans raised it again during the BMW PGA Championship and a few members of the media tent have ‘before and after’ pictures on their laptops of the shot confronting Monty in Indonesia. To say the very least, it doesn’t make pretty viewing from his point of view.

While Clarke used his schedule to excuse his non-appearance in the Montgomerie led British and Irish side against Jose-Maria Olazabal’s continentals in the Seve Trophy, most will be able to read between the lines of yesterday’s explanation.

“I just heard about this myself since finishing my round and don’t know where it came from because I hadn’t spoken to anybody from that paper,” he said. “I’m not playing the Seve Trophy because of my schedule. I have to spend some time at home with Heather and the kids and have some contractual obligations in Asia.

“As for me having an issue with Colon Montgomerie ... we discussed what happened in the Tournament Committee. All the members expressed their opinion and I’m not going further than that. I have my own personal opinions and the matter is over and dealt with. My personal opinion makes no difference whatsoever where the Seve Trophy is concerned, this is entirely a schedule issue.”

That may well be the case but there are already murmurings of what could happen should Montgomerie win the European Tour order of merit at the end of the year by 22,000 points, roughly the amount he picked up in the tournament in Indonesia.