Monty donates Indonesia winnings to tsunami fund

Colin Montgomerie announced today that he is donating all of his prize money from the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open to The European Tour Tsunami Fund. Montgomerie has made this gesture following a personal viewing of video footage of the second round of the tournament played at Cengkareng Golf Club, Jakarta, Indonesia, from March 24-27, 2005, where his ball had to be replaced after play was abandoned due to bad weather.

In a statement issued by the European Tour, the Tournament Director in Indonesia cleared Colin Montgomerie of any breach of procedure and, following a later review of the footage of the tournament, John Paramor, Chief Referee of The European Tour, has determined there will be no penalty and that the decision stands.

However, Colin Montgomerie said: "During the second round at the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open, my ball came to rest beside a greenside bunker on the 14th hole when play was called off for the day due to a thunderstorm at the course. In my haste to avoid the storm, I left the ball there and did not mark it and unfortunately when I returned the next morning the ball was no longer there. I replaced my ball as close as I could to where I thought that I had left it the night before and even took the precaution of checking with both of my playing partners.

"Following some questions raised by a couple of my fellow Pros who saw the footage, The European Tour looked into their questions without my knowledge or involvement and ruled that there had been no infringement of the Rules. This has been reported elsewhere. However, I was sufficiently concerned by the situation after it had been raised directly with me to ask if I could view the footage at the earliest opportunity on returning from the Johnnie Walker Classic and BMW Asian Open where I have been playing the last couple of weeks. I have now had a chance to look at the tapes. Although the matter has clearly been ruled on already and hence closed in an official tournament sense, from a professional and personal perspective I was not comfortable with what I saw and feel that I may have replaced the ball inaccurately, albeit unwittingly.

"The respect of my peers and the Rules of the game are extremely important to me which is why I am grateful that this matter has been raised and I have therefore been able to look into it. I am obviously upset that I could have inadvertently caused my colleagues to question me and with this in mind (and with this being all that I can do in the circumstances) and having informed the European Tour's Chief Referee of my decision, I will be making a donation of all of my prize money from the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open towards The European Tour Tsunami Fund. I have already made a personal donation to the Fund earlier in the year and this cause was a key beneficiary from the tournament in Indonesia itself. This is a project which is very close to my heart and one that I have been lucky enough to have been able to support already this year in India, Phuket and Indonesia and I will continue to support during the year through a number of other projects planned for the UK."

John Paramor, Chief Referee of The European Tour, said: "We must state first and foremost that the decision taken by the Tournament Director at the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open in determining that Colin Montgomerie had used his best endeavours to estimate the original position under Rule 6-8d (Procedure when Play Resumed) is not being questioned, and that decision stands as final.

"Colin's subsequent decision to view the incident resulted in Colin forming the opinion that the position from where he eventually played his shot was not near enough to the position from where he left the ball. Colin is adamant that he in no way intended to receive any advantage and we completely accept that and therefore Colin's insistence on making this donation is admirable."

NB: Colin Montgomerie finished tied fourth in the Enjoy Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesia Open with prize winnings of EUR34,708 (£24,072) with rounds of 67-69-66-60 for an 18 under par total of 262.

May 7, 2005

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