Monty misses out again

Colin Montgomerie missed his second successive cut today – something that has not happened in Europe since 1998.

Snapped angrily pointing his club at a cameraman during his opening 73 in the Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters at the Forest of Arden yesterday, Montgomerie ran into more problems on his return to the course. This time with his game.

While England’s Greg Owen took over at the top on eight under par and Lee Westwood had a hole-in-one, the 39-year-old Scot did not have a single birdie as he crashed to a 75 and four over par total of 148.

Although half the field had still to tee off again Montgomerie was lying joint 120th – and only the leading 70 and ties qualify tonight for the final 36 holes. The likely cut-off mark was level par.

“I’m not playing well right now – just not striking the ball properly,” he said. “It’s not really very good, but I’ll practise this weekend now and try to get something going.”

Steady rain did not help and when he went into a lake and ran up a six at the 547-yard 12th the seven-time European number one knew he had a real task on his hands to survive an event he entered only after crashing out at halfway in last week’s Wales Open.

The last time he missed two halfway cuts in a row in Europe was 1998 – the European Open and BMW International – but he missed five out of six in America earlier this season and is quoted at only 100-1 by leading bookmakers Ladbrokes for next week’s US Open.

“That’s about fair right now, I hate to say,” he commented when told the odds. “I will turn it round, whether I have enough time before next week I’m not sure.”

He had done well to escape from a bad drive on the 11th, hitting a low running slice onto the green and two-putting, but then failed to capitalise on a massive stroke of fortune at the next.

His drive went right again and clattered into a huge oak tree. It could have gone anywhere, but it rebounded nearly 100 yards down the fairway.

From there, though, he never came close to carrying the lake and, after taking a penalty drop, he pitched over the green and from the fringe two-putted for his six.

After further bogeys at the 13th and 16th he had a chance to turns things round on the long 17th, but had to settle for a par five and knew it needed a drastic change in fortunes to save him now.

It did not come. His front nine contained nine successive pars and while that will be good next week it was no good now.

Playing partner Darren Clarke, the pre-tournament favourite, had his second successive 71, but while he is still alive on the course where he has won twice before he is six adrift of Owen, who had his second successive bogey-free 68 and has not dropped any shots since the fourth of his third round last week – 68 holes ago.

“Faldo made a living out of it and while I’m not 100% sure I like playing that way – sometimes you get a bit conservative – it’s working.”

Westwood, five under overnight and feeling much happier about his form after nearly two years without a top 10 finish, discovered again what a difference a day can make when he matched Montgomerie’s 39 for the back nine.

When he bogeyed the first and second as well he was down to level par and in a struggle to avoid the cut, but then came the ace with a six-iron to the 195-yard fifth. It had him raising his arms in triumph.

Overnight leader Peter Fowler was among the later starters and before he could resume he was overtaken by both Owen and German Marcel Siem, who still had two holes to play.

An eagle on the long seventh, his 16th, took Siem alongside Owen and a stroke in front of not only Fowler, but also England’s David Lynn, also chasing his first European tour title.

British Masters Leaderboard:

8 under - Greg Owen (after 36 holes)

Marcel Siem (Ger) (35)

7 under – David Lynn (32)

6 under – Raymond Russell (19)

Peter Fowler (Aus) (20)

Darren Fichardt (Rsa) (36)

5 under – Ignacio Garrido (Spa) (36)

Richard Green (Aus) (32)

4 under – Stephen Gallacher (33)

Matthew Cort (20)

Others:

3 under – Justin Rose (18)

2 under – Darren Clarke (36)

1 under – Ian Poulter (18)

Lee Westwood (36)

Level – Phillip Price (18)

1 over – Ian Woosnam (18)

4 over – Colin Montgomerie (36)

British Masters scores:

136 Greg Owen 68 68

138 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 72 66

139 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 72

141 Barry Lane 73 68, Andrew Coltart 68 73, Mark Roe 71 70

142 Darren Clarke 71 71, Anthony Wall 72 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 70

143 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 73, Gary Emerson 71 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 70, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 76, Lee Westwood 67 76, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 74, Mark James 71 72

144 Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 71, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 73 71, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 74, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 74 70

145 David Park 76 69, Johan Rystrom (Swe) 74 71

146 Roger Wessels (Rsa) 73 73

147 John Bickerton 72 75

148 Colin Montgomerie 73 75

150 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 76 74

153 Paul Dwyer 76 77, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 76 77

155 Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 78 77

159 Titch Moore (Rsa) 76 83

Retired Paul McGinley

Withdrew Terry Price (Aus), David Drysdale