Monty facing fitness battle

Colin Montgomerie flew to America today still unsure about whether he will be 100% fit for the start of the US PGA championship on Thursday.

Three weeks after finishing runner-up to Tiger Woods at the Open, Montgomerie pulled out of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles after 13 holes last week, having hurt three fingers on his right hand playing what he called “one of the worst shots I’ve ever hit”.

Manager Guy Kinnings said last night: “Monty has spent the last couple of days having treatment. He hit a few balls and it is very sore, but he’s going to travel and will continue to have treatment and see how it is.”

Fellow Scot Stephen Gallacher, who withdrew after nine holes of the second round at Gleneagles with a recurrence of back trouble, saw a chiropractor over the weekend and made a further visit this morning before boarding his flight to New Jersey.

Gallacher intends to play only nine holes of practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, while it remains to be seen if David Howell even manages that.

Howell was due to make his return last week almost two months after tearing an abdominal muscle at the US Open, but a practice round left him feeling he was not yet ready for competitive action.

Paul Casey and Steve Webster, meanwhile, had no injury worries as they crossed the Atlantic, but were not in the upbeat mood they had hoped to be.

Both had a chance to win the Johnnie Walker Championship yesterday, but Webster, joint leader after six holes of the final round, fell back to eighth with a closing 73 and Casey’s last-hole double bogey seven for a 74 left him only joint 23rd.

Just to see his name on a leaderboard, though, had represented a massive step forward for Casey, who in a nightmare slump had missed the cut on his six previous starts.

He will tee off at Baltusrol not thinking about winning the final major of the season, but looking for further signs that he can start the Ryder Cup campaign next month in a positive frame of mind.

Unlikely to be in his bag, though, is the putter which gave him and Luke Donald victory for England in the World Cup last November.

“I’m thinking about binning it – not completely, but just putting it aside to teach it a lesson,” said Casey.

Winner of the Gleneagles title was Italian Emanuele Canonica, his first victory in 231 starts on tour going back to 1989.

The 34-year-old from Turin, at 5ft 4in the smallest player on the circuit by half an inch from Ian Woosnam, revealed that he had thought about quitting at the end of last season and that former Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli was among those who had persuaded him to keep going.

Asked what he might have done instead, Canonica said: “Maybe some pro-ams in Italy and some teaching, but my wife and a lot of friends, including Luca, told me to try a couple more years.”

He shot a closing 71 for a seven under total of 281 and two-stroke victory over English pair Barry Lane and David Lynn, Welshman Bradley Dredge and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.

“It’s been a long wait, but I reached my dream,” added the big-hitting Canonica, who spent a month with Tiger Woods’ former coach Butch Harmon during the winter.