Montgomerie makes Masters U-turn

Colin Montgomerie has changed his mind and accepted a late invitation to play in next week’s British Masters at the Forest of Arden.

Montgomerie had originally planned to miss the £1.5m (€2m) event, which he won in 1998, to prepare for the following week’s US Open and fulfil contractual obligations with sponsors.

But after missing the halfway cut by a shot in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, the former European number one felt he needed more competitive golf before flying to Chicago for the US Open at Olympia Fields.

The decision means the 39-year-old, in a break from the norm, will have played six weeks in a row before the second major championship of the year.

Until Friday’s missed cut after rounds of 73 and 71, he had seemed to rediscover his form after an unhappy spell in America at the start of the year.

The Scot was a collective 19 over par in missing the cut in five of his six strokeplay tournaments across the Atlantic, failing to break 70 in 14 rounds, and also lost 4&2 to Alex Cejka in the first round of the World Matchplay in California.

Rounds of 78 and 76 at the Masters added up to his worst halfway total by four shots in 12 appearances at Augusta, and it was also the Scot’s second worst display ever in 46 major championships.

Since returning to his ’comfort zone’ in Europe, however, Montgomerie finished second in the Italian Open and ninth in last week’s Volvo PGA championship at Wentworth.