Montgomerie makes storming start

An in-form Colin Montgomerie is targeting his second title in seven days after storming into a three-shot lead after the first round of the American Express Championship in San Francisco.

Fresh from his first victory in 19 months in the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday, Montgomerie carded an opening 64 in the €6.1m event at Harding Park.

The 42-year-old Scot fired six birdies and no bogeys in a flawless round to leave some of the world’s best players trailing in his wake.

World number one Tiger Woods – seeking his 11th victory in 21 WGC events – was among the 11-strong group in second along with Ryder Cup trio David Howell, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and John Daly.

Montgomerie has never won a strokeplay tournament in America – although he did win the individual title at the World Cup in 1997 – most famously missing out on the 1994 US Open and 1995 USPGA in play-offs, and admitted: “I would love to win over here, there is no secret about that.

“Sunday gave me a lot of confidence. It was nice to win again, especially at St Andrews and I came over here with a lot more self-esteem and confidence than I had and it proved it today.

“If I had finished third or fourth on Sunday I would not have shot 64 today. It’s just the confidence factor, it has been a huge boost for my career. I am 42 now and supposed to be going downhill. It’s nice to go the other way.”

Victory at St Andrews also gave Montgomerie every chance to win an eighth Order of Merit title six years after his last. He now trails US Open champion Michael Campbell by just €124,100 on the money list and the New Zealander could manage only an opening 71.

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 seven feet 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 the 42-year-old Scot into the outright lead.

“I drove the ball well and if you put the ball in the fairway you can score,” added Montgomerie, who began the year ranked a lowly 81st in the world but is now 16th in the rankings.

“It is a very good course and is going to play more difficult if the weather changes as it is forecast to so I am glad to get round in one piece.

“It’s tiring to come to the west coast with an eight-hour time difference but hopefully I can catch up on some sleep tonight.”

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 is a pretty good score. For the first day they did a pretty good job of setting up the golf course.”

Poulter reaped the benefits of some long hours on the putting green with five birdies in his round of 67.

“I had a tough time last week with the putter so I have done some hard work on the putting green the last couple of days and things paid off,” he said. “I rolled a couple of nice putts in and hit it pretty solidly and it all adds up to a nice score.”

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 five-iron from 194 yards.

Perhaps unsurprisingly it did not prove 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.

Luke Donald and Stephen Dodd are level par after rounds of 70, Nick Dougherty and Lee Westwood one over, Graeme McDowell and Bradley Dredge one under while Kenneth Ferrie – who let slip a five-shot lead in the final round on Sunday - could only manage a 74.

Ireland’s Paul McGinley finished three over and World Cup partner Padraig Harrington drove into the water on the 18th to run up a double bogey six and card a 74.