Monty makes solid return

Colin Montgomerie made a good start today as he tried to put the drama of the Ryder Cup behind him and arrest his own golfing slump at Kingsbarns.

Europe’s triumphant captain has dropped from 135th to 425th in the world from the time of his appointment and is without a top-10 finish for 28 months.

But the 47-year-old Scot, playing with his brother Douglas, covered his first six holes of the Dunhill Links Championship in one under par to be three behind early leader Pablo Larrazabal.

The Spaniard, also playing at Kingsbarns, led by one from South African Trevor Fisher and Swede Mikael Lundberg, both of whom were in action at St Andrews as the celebrity pro-am began over three courses.

Nine of Montgomerie’s side are playing in the event – and all of them were at Kingsbarns for the opening round.

Francesco Molinari and Martin Kaymer were also one under par, while Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood – needing a top-two finish to replace Tiger Woods as world number one – opened with par fours.

Westwood and McIlroy were playing together and both eagled the long third, but as McIlroy had also birdied the second he went into a share of second spot.

On three under he was a shot behind Lundberg, who took over at the top with a fourth birdie of the morning on the ninth while Larrazabal double-bogeyed the seventh.

Montgomerie dropped a shot on the same hole and followed it with another bogey to be one over.