Colin Montgomerie was right where he wanted to be today on his 500th European Tour appearance as a professional - at the top of the leaderboard.
Europe's new Ryder Cup captain, with only three top-10 finishes to his name since the start of last season, raced to five under par after 12 holes of the Andalucian Open in Seville.
It put Montgomerie, now a lowly 137th in the world and with no hope of qualifying for The Masters in two weeks, two strokes ahead of England's John Mellor and John E Morgan, Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin, winner of last year's European Masters.The 45-year-old Scot was presented with a cake yesterday to celebrate his landmark appearance, and he was optimistic about the state of his game.
Montgomerie went on to birdie four of the first six holes on the back nine and after going in the lake for a bogey six at the long 16th, responded by picking up further strokes at the 18th and first.
Putts of 15 and 30 feet found the target there and an 18-footer was needed for par on the next before he bogeyed the 436-yard fourth to slip back to four under.
Montgomerie is the 18th player to reach 500 tournament appearances and has notched top 10 finishes in 182 of them.
His last top 10 finish was his second place to Pablo Larrazabal at last June’s French Open, but he is hungry for more.
“I’d like to get to 200. I’m busier than ever, but I’m still competitive enough to be able to contend,” Montgomerie said.
Source:the times
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