Scandinavian Masters: Monty's off to shaky start

Colin Montgomerie’s bid to secure his Ryder Cup place got off to a shaky start in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters today.

Bernhard Langer’s victory in the Dutch Open last week pushed Montgomerie down to eighth in the cup standings with only the top 10 after the BMW International Open guaranteed to qualify.

The Scot admitted yesterday that his place was still in doubt with lucrative events, including the USPGA Championship, still to come which could see him slip further down the table.

Such a scenario has partly prompted Montgomerie to play four of the last five counting events in order to secure his place and save captain Sam Torrance from using up one of his two precious wild cards.

But his chances suffered an early blow when the first round got underway at Barsebak this morning with two early bogeys.

Starting on the 10th Montgomerie’s approach found a greenside bunker and after blasting out well from an awkward lie close to the lip, he missed from four feet to save par.

Worse was to come on the par five 12th when, having hit a superb drive down the middle of the fairway, his attempt to go for the green over the corner of the dogleg saw his ball clip the top of a tree and drop down into heavy rough under the pine trees.

From there he could only chip out sideways and the resulting six left him two over par after three holes.

Playing partners Jesper Parnevik and Lee Westwood both birdied the hole despite having hit much shorter drives, the Swede moving to one under par and defending champion Westwood back to level after a bogey on the 11th.

The big three were still well off the pace however with France’s Gregory Havret, in the first group out from the 10th tee, five under par after nine holes.

Havret enjoyed a one shot lead over Stephen Gallacher, the Scot in the first group out from the first tee and racing to the turn in 31 with four birdies in his first eight holes.