Montgomerie sustains momentum to forge ahead

Colin Montgomerie carried on from where he left off to set a blistering pace in the American Express Championship in San Francisco.

Fresh from his first victory in 19 months in the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday, Montgomerie carded a first round 64 to lead the £4.2million event at Harding Park.

The 42-year-old Scot fired six birdies and no bogeys in a flawless round to lead by three shots from Ryder Cup team-mate David Howell, and world number one Tiger Woods – seeking his 11th victory in 21 WGC events – who also recorded a round of 67.

Montgomerie admitted part of him wanted to “do a Freddie Flintoff” to celebrate his victory rather than make the long journey to the west coast of America, but there were certainly no sign of over-indulgence on the course.

Starting on the 10th, the seven-time European number one took advantage of one of only two par fives on the course with an opening birdie, and picked up another shot on the 12th.

His round really sparked into life just before the turn however, a birdie from 7ft on the 16th followed by another on the par three 17th where his tee shot finished just inches from the hole.

Another superb iron shot into the signature 18th made it three birdies in a row and took Montgomerie into the outright lead.

Perhaps equally significantly, it also took Montgomerie well clear of his nearest rival for an eighth money list title, New Zealand’s Michael Campbell.

Campbell, the US Open champion, has an £85,000 lead over Montgomerie but could only manage a one over round of 71.

After a run of six pars on the front nine Montgomerie birdied the seventh after yet another brilliant approach and made par at the monster 230-yard par three eighth.

Woods had bogeyed the same hole after missing the green but declared himself content with his opening round after recovering from a rib injury suffered during the Presidents Cup a fortnight ago.

“I felt if I could shoot somewhere between two and four under par it would be pretty good,” Woods said. “Looking at the pin positions it’s a pretty good score. For the first day they did a pretty good job of setting up the golf course.”

Woods had predicted the extensively renovated municipal course could yield some low scores if the wind did not blow and that looked like being the case.

Australian Richard Green showed what was was possible with a birdie on the 10th followed by a hole-in-one on the 11th, the left-hander holing a 5-iron from 194 yards.

It was not proving so easy for Sheffield’s Neil Cheetham however, who stumbled to a seven over 77.

Cheetham, ranked 430 places below playing partner and world number three Phil Mickelson, needs a good finish here to try to keep his European Tour card – he currently lies 138th on the Order of Merit.

But after opening with two pars, and out-driving Mickelson on the first, a double bogey on the third was quickly followed by a number of other dropped shots to leave him 70th of the 71-strong field.

USPGA champion Mickelson had been three under after 10 but dropped four shots in the space of three holes and eventually signed for a 71.