Monty reeling after Campbell blitz

Colin Montgomerie lost four of the first six holes when he began his HSBC World Match Play quarter-final at Wentworth today.

Never behind in his opening-day victory over Ryder Cup teammate David Howell, the 1999 winner took on defending champion Michael Campbell and the New Zealander got off to a brilliant start.

He sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the opening green and then was handed the fourth, fifth and sixth on the plate as the eight-time European number one - still in with a chance of making that nine this season – found trouble each time in the rain.

It was a deep hole to find himself in so early, but Montgomerie did at least set straight about climbing himself out.

A 15-foot putt won him the seventh and a seven-iron to three feet on the next for another birdie narrowed the gap to two.

Behind them, Paul Casey, impressive conqueror of Retief Goosen in his first-ever match in the event, trailed Canadian left-hander Mike Weir by one after eight.

Casey had to make a 10-footer on the first after coming up short of the green, but he could not match Weir’s birdie at the 552-yard fourth and – after sinking a 25-footer to level on the sixth – fell behind again when the 2003 Masters champion holed from 10 feet at the next.

There was a European Ryder Cup player involved in each of the four games, but Luke Donald lost the first two holes to Tiger Woods’ conqueror Shaun Micheel and Robert Karlsson, who had knocked out world number two Jim Furyk, was level with Angel Cabrera after seven.

The exit of Woods and Furyk – the top two players in the game – plus six-time winner Ernie Els to Cabrera, had opened up the race for the £1m (€1.42m) first prize – the biggest in golf.

But it had also made a big dent in the size of the crowd, the early morning weather also not helping matters.