Good to be back!

In an exclusive interview with Charlie Mulqueen, Colin Montgomerie talks about

IT’S good to be back! That’s the positive frame of mind that Colin

Montgomerie brings with him today as he returns to Carton House and his latest

tilt at the Nissan Irish Open Championship which he has already captured on

three occasions. He loves it in Ireland and makes no secret of the fact. Accordingly,

the 42-year-old, eight times winner of the European Tour order of merit is among

the chief bookmakers’ fancies and is sure to command a large share of

the gallery support over the four days in Co Kildare.

Wins don’t come Monty’s way as often as he would like or as often

he was once accustomed to, but don’t imagine for one moment that his level

of ambition has waned in any way. Over the past couple of years, we have seen

just how important he can be when it comes to putting the Americans to the sword

in the Ryder Cup and how on an individual basis he remains a considerable force,

a point he made very well when defeating a very strong field in the Dunhill

Links title at St Andrews last autumn on the way to yet another order of merit

title.

More recently still, he prevailed on the current campaign in Hong Kong and

now goes into the Irish Open quietly confident of repeating his successes at

Druids Glen in 1996 and ’97 and at Fota Island in 2001.

“I have very happy memories of the Irish Open”, Monty enthuses.

“I’ve won it three times, enjoyed places like Druids Glen and Fota

Island and indeed I’ve always felt very welcome in Ireland. There’s

a certain warmth from the Irish crowds and I think the Irish and Scots have

always got on well. I feel very much at home when I go to Ireland and that’s

very important because I think I play better when I’m comfortable in a

certain environment and Ireland is that environment for me.”

You don’t win a golf tournament in the first round but you can certainly

lose one and there’s no doubt that Montgomerie laid the foundations for

his memorable victory at Fota in 2001 with an eagle at the 18th on day one. It was murky and cold as he stood over his second to the waterstrewn

green and it was a shot fraught with danger. But he struck the five iron just

as he wanted and his face lit up with delight as the ball faded gently to within

five feet of the flag. He tapped in for his three and never looked back, in

spite of great efforts by Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke to catch

him on a sunny Sunday in front of massive crowds.

“I remember that shot very well”, he agreed. “It gave me

a lot of satisfaction because that hole is so dangerous. It was a good shot

into that island green. It’s a good finish and I enjoyed the course. In

fact, the greens superintendent there then, Steve Byrne, is now the superintendent

at The Wisley in London where I play and we talk about Fota Island quite a bit. Nice place, Cork, I enjoyed being there. I stayed

at John Magnier’s place at Coolmore and helicoptered to the course and

then drove back. I used John’s range and it was a lovely week. He won the Irish Derby on the Sundaythat I won the Irish Open so we had

a double celebration when I got back. I forget the horse’s name, would

it have been Galileo, he was winning most Derbies at that time.

“Pádraig and Darren came after me on the final day and it added

to the satisfaction of the day that I was able to hold them off. There have

always been strong Irish golfers and they have been stronger than Scotland in

the last ten years. There’s the possibility of another three Irishmen

in the Ryder Cup whereas in reality there’s only one Scot. It’s a shame that Scotland hasn’t gone forward, suppose it’s just a coincidence

of timing. You’ve got your Harrington, Clarke and McGinley and McDowell

is coming through and that’s a great base for you.”

Montgomerie believes that the number of outstanding players the two countries

have produced over the years is due in large measure to the quality of their

respective courses. He maintains that “if you have been brought up on

a tough golf course, you’re a better golfer. And I also think that golf

is inbred in our culture more so than England. It’s cheaper to play, it’s

easier to get on. For me, the Irish Open has always been a big title and it

still is.

“It’s a good time in the calendar between the British Masters and

the PGA. The Masters is really the start of our season and everybody moves on

to Ireland the next week. And it’s nice, too, that we’re playing

a course that carries my name.”

Monty accepts that he was a little apprehensive about the reaction of his colleagues

to his lay-out at Carton House for last year’s championship, especially

because of his attempts to develop it into a kind of inland links.

As it transpired, he needn’t have worried. There were a few groans and

heavy sighs but there’s nothing new in that and at the end of the day,

it got the thumbs up from the vast majority of the field.

“I was delighted with the reaction”, he says. “Obviously

you can’t please 155 guys. Let’s get that straight for a start.

People are going to score 80 no matter where they may be and they’ll complain about

the severity of the bunkering and the rough. That’sgoing to happen. Overall,

though, I was delighted with the feedback I received from my peers.

“The quality of the greens was second to none on the Tour last year.

Carton is a severe test and I don’t think people were ready for that.

They are now. They have to bring with them a game of golf that is complete. They have to drive the ball well, they have to hit iron shots well

and they have to chip and putt well. We had a good leaderboard which is always

important for an event. Stephen Dodd, David Howell, Nick Dougherty, all good

ball strikers, were up there.

“We have made a few alterations. We’ve given a little more room

on the right of the 4th for the second shot and a little more room for the tee

shot on the left of the 6th. But nothing major... we haven’t had to do

too much. The tournament director David Probyn and myself have had a talk about

the set-up of the course and how we’d want it to be. It is a linksified

golf course a hundred miles from a coast if you know what I mean and I’m thrilled with what’s been said and done. It

was voted the number one new course in Europe by Golf World. That was great

and it has not alone helped me for this tournament but my golf design business

as well.”

Monty has just one regret about Carton and it’s his inability to position

the 18th green on the far side of the River Rye and has instead had to accept

a relatively straightforward par five. It’s not an ecological difficulty,

rather it’s a case of how long it would take for the players to get over

there!

“We could create a green across the river and I would love to”,

he says. “We’d only use it once a year because it’s not feasible

for amateurs. It’s a minimum carry of 160-170 yards. A long way. For us,

it would be a dramatic last hole. Unfortunately, it would take an extra seven

minutes to walk round and there’s a big timing issue on the European Tour. Rounds would take up to 12 minutes longer and they’re long

enough as it is. Hopefully, at some point in the future, we could have a local rule that you’d play your second shot and then get

transported around.”

Colin Montgomerie has stressed time and again how motivation keeps him going

even now that he’s now 42 and achieved almost everything in the game of

golf. However, something very important is missing – a major championship. Does that remain his ultimate ambition?

“I suppose so”, he admits. “I can’t say I’d love

to win another order of merit or to hole a putt to win a Ryder Cup because that’s

been done if you like. I’ve won in Scotland, I’ve won at St Andrews

so, yes, there’s one thing glaringly obviously missing.

“But winning the Ryder Cup is different. The feeling of being part of

a team is something I hold dearly. I’ve won four and lost three and every

win has been very special in many different ways and I wouldn’t take anything

back. The Open Championship would be great but I’m not in any position

to be choosy so I’ll take any one of the four. The Open kickstarted my

revival in July of last year. But I can’t pick and choose.

“It’s getting much tougher. When I started getting close to majors

in ’94, ’95, ’97, Tiger wasn’t around for a start. Since

he’s raised the standard, everyone else around him, the Mickelsons, the

Els, the Retiefs, the Vijays, and all these guys, have raised the bar as well.

We couldn’t afford to wait for him to come down to our level, we had to raise our games to get to his. So everybody has had to improve. Yes, it is much

tougher... I’m a better player now than I was when number two in the world

in ’96, ’97.

It applies to every sport. There’s not many that have gone backwards.

Everyone is improving their fitness, their mental attitude, they see the lifestyle

that’s available so they really are going for it.”