Monty nearly misses Wentworth tee-off after sleeping in

Colin Montgomerie found himself in a late dash to make his tee-off time at Wentworth today – and four hours later was very glad he had done it.

“It was too close,” said Montgomerie after signing for a level par 71 in the third round of the BMW PGA Championship. “I slept in and just made it.”

The problem was that his phone ran out of power and so his alarm call did not go off.

Mixing three birdies with three bogeys kept him at two over par and it gives last year’s Ryder Cup captain a chance to end nearly three years without a top 10 finish.

He said: “It was a good effort there – it was windy and the pins are in some very tough places. They’re all nasty.”

The three-time winner of the title on the course tucked in just behind Rory McIlroy, who was four under for the day until he hit his second into the water and ran up a bogey six on the controversial last.

The stream in front of the green was among the controversial changes made to the lay-out and, a day after Ian Poulter and Paul Casey both made criticisms, Montgomerie had words to say about the 18th.

“It’s been harmed in many ways,” he commented. “Three-wood, eight-iron - that’s all I’ve hit every day. Something’s not quite right there.

“It’s a bit daft and it’s lost the drama, no question. You’ve got to be careful of the audience here.”

What is pleasing Montgomerie most is that he is leading the field in fairways hit – an encouraging sign with US Open and Open qualifiers coming up the next two Mondays at Walton Heath and Sunningdale.

He explained: “That’s what used to happen – I’m driving the ball very well. I’m definitely getting it back and I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s round, which has not happened in a long time.”

At the start of the week his caddie Jason Hempleman left him to join Ryder Cup player Francesco Molinari, but Montgomerie was four ahead of the Italian with a round to go.

He has had offers from lawyers and dentists to carry his bag, but has still to sort out a permanent replacement as Dominic Bott is working for him this week only because Thomas Bjorn had pulled out following the death of his father.

seeing the time when he woke up even led to him putting on the same clothes as yesterday when nearly all the field wore navy blue in memory of Seve Ballesteros.