Monty going it alone

Colin Montgomerie has spoken about the break-up of his latest relationship - and his belief that after the worst run of his career, good things could be about to happen again at this week’s Masters.

The 42-year-old Scot is no longer with Joanne Baldwin, the mother-of-three he met following his divorce two years ago.

“Jo and I are apart – and I’m single,” said Montgomerie, stressing the second part of that sentence after being linked with another woman by a tabloid newspaper on Sunday.

Asked if what has been happening off the course may have affected his play on it – he has just missed his last four halfway cuts – the eight-time European number one replied: “I think it’s had a part. It’s never easy in a way.

“But now I can concentrate on my golf and my children and give them both more time.”

Montgomerie has already pulled out of two tournaments this year because of the state of his game, including last week’s event in Atlanta.

He stayed in Florida instead to work in private – and is very happy with the results, as was coach Dennis Pugh on linking up with him at Augusta.

“I had a down spell, but the golf’s okay,” said Montgomerie.

“I’m coming back to some form, and it’s just the putting. The six, seven and eight-footers are the ones that have got to go in here.”

Last April he was not even at the Masters, failing to make it back into the world’s top 50 in time and then failing to be given the special invitation many people thought his standing in the game warranted.

Things had already started to turn round for him, though, after the slump he suffered following the breakdown of his marriage in 2004 – and then, of course, came the Open at St Andrews.

Coming second to Tiger Woods convinced Montgomerie that, after five years without a single top-10 finish in a major, there was still time for him.

Despite a record at Augusta that no world number 13 would be proud of, Montgomerie states: “We have a chance here. Oh God, yeah.”

Just once in 13 visits has the Ryder Cup star even gone into the weekend high on the leaderboard – but that was followed by his most spectacular collapse.

Woods, playing his first major as a professional, began with rounds of 70 and 66 nine years ago. Montgomerie’s 72-67 left him three behind but put him in the final group for his first head-to-head with the 21-year-old.

He wondered – not just to himself, but to the world’s press – if relative inexperience might be a telling factor. Woods got to hear about it and, making no secret of his desire to show otherwise, scored 65 to Montgomerie’s 74.

“It was the easiest 65 I’ve ever seen,” said the eight-time European number one on recalling that day and preferring to forget that, still shell-shocked it seemed, he finished with an 81.

He praised Woods immediately afterwards and almost a decade later adds: “-I realised we were witnessing something special, and it’s all come true.

“It was a phenomenal experience to go out with him as he was coming through - and at 30 he’s as good, if not better.”

Those rounds of 67 and 81 remain Montgomerie’s best and worst scores on the course – but he does feel better equipped to handle the test now.

“At first I didn’t enjoy it. I faded the ball a lot more then – I cut it, to be honest – and was one-dimensional. I’m a better golfer now.”

Eighth place in 1998 remains his best finish, but he believes that if he can find his putting touch like he did in the week of the Open last summer he can do better than that – much better.

And while victory is the ultimate ambition, of course, Montgomerie sees a lot of merit in coming second.

“I’d like to be the first player to be runner-up in every major.”

Without winning one, that is, and even that has to be qualified. Back in the 1930s American Craig Wood did it, losing play-offs in all four, but then in 1941 won both the Masters and US Open.

Wood, though, did not have to contend with Woods. Montgomerie does – for the rest of his career.