Murphy's Irish Open: Monty back to form at Irish Open

Colin Montgomerie re-asserted his authority on the European Tour with a 63 at the Irish Open.

Two eagles and six birdies gave Montgomerie a brilliant eight-under-par round and a two-stroke lead after the first round.

It was not just a course record for the new lay-out, but also the best start ever made in the event's history.

The Scot rated it his best round since an opening 65 in the 1997 US Open.

He has been studying an edited video of Congressional to remind him of how well he played then - he eventually finished second to Ernie Els - but equally important have been daily conversations with sports psychologist Hugh Mantle.

Montgomerie has not won on the circuit since the Volvo PGA championship in May last year and for a while split from his wife Eimear as things went wrong off the course as well.

"Hugh has been hugely important over the last year," he said. "The first six months for one reason (to save his marriage) and the last six months for another (to re-ignite his golf).

"Without him I would not be sitting here. I might have walked away from the game."

It is nearly 10 months since he even held an overnight lead and so no wonder he said: "I'm just glad my name is on the top of the leaderboard again."

He had warned on the eve of the event it was coming - and there was no surprise that it was this tournament where he recaptured the form which won him seven successive Order of Merit titles.

Montgomerie has twice been Irish Open champion, twice been second and twice finished fourth.

"It was breezy, the rain was about to start, but I like playing here," he said. "The support I have is like playing in Scotland."

The eagles came at the 500-yard 10th and 507-yard 18th, first courtesy of a 30-foot putt and then thanks to a 210-yard five-iron to four feet - off a downhill lie with water just left of the flag.

He had already had five birdies on the front nine and another came with a six-foot putt on the short 11th. If he had not bogeyed the eighth and 16th, he would have equalled the lowest round of his career.

"I didn't want to stop," he added. "For the first time in a long while I could see myself making birdies and more birdies."