Monty looks to improve putting

Ryder Cup star Colin Montgomerie flies out to America for this week’s US Open happy with most parts of his game but deeply frustrated with one.

The 42-year-old Scot got himself into a good position to win the BA-CA Austrian Open near Vienna with some straight driving and precise iron play.

But his putting frustrated him all week and despite sending out an early statement of intent in yesterday’s final round with three successive birdies from the second, his challenge petered out.

The eight-time Ryder Cup star was furious with the way he failed to capitalise on the areas of his game which are currently at their strongest.

And he knows if he performs like that at Winged Foot this week he will be unable to keep pace with the top players in the second major of the year on greens which are notoriously difficult.

“The long game is that good I got away with it [in Austria] but not this week - I can’t get away with it this week. I’ve got to hole out,” he said.

“My long game is good enough now, I’ve got it right back where it was even 10 years ago, but my putting is not as good as it used to be and I’ve got to get it sorted out.”

Montgomerie went chasing victory and, as a result, his round fell apart as a back nine of 43 left him five under par and in a tie for 13th.

For Yorkshireman Simon Dyson, consistency was not the problem – finding birdies was.

After bogeying the third hole he had 12 pars in a row and by the time he carded his first birdie at the 16th, playing partner and eventual winner Markus Brier – the European Tour’s first Austrian victor – was well clear.

Brier finished 18 under after a round of 68 – four strokes ahead of Dyson.

But despite that disappointment the 28-year-old from York, who won his maiden European Tour title in Indonesia in March, was more than happy with his game.

“From tee to green, for four days, it is the best I have struck it,” he told PA Sport. “I struck the ball like a top-five player in the world to be honest.

“My golf is the best it has ever been. I’m starting to gain a lot of confidence and believe in myself.

“That is my fifth top 10 this season and hopefully I can finish the second half of the season like the first half.”

With some big-money tournaments coming up, European players’ thoughts start to turn towards the Ryder Cup, just three months away.

Dyson is still some way short of qualifying and he admitted making Ian Woosnam’s team for the K Club had not crossed his mind.

“I haven’t thought about the Ryder Cup to be quite honest. I just want to do the best I can and if that fell into place and I won a couple of big tournaments I would assess it then,” he said.

“I have just got to play well in the tournaments I turn up at. I think I have got it in me to win another tournament.

“Hopefully the next one I go to will be a number one [finish]. I’ll keep plugging away and see if another one turns up.”