After making a 5-footer for par to finish his round, he was even more certain.

The leaders were still on the front nine, but the wind was howling fiercely off the Pacific Ocean. It seemed Montgomerie's even-par score might hold up.

At least it did to Jack Nicklaus, who greeted Montgomerie in the ABC booth, where he was doing commentary.

``Congratulations on winning the U.S. Open,'' Nicklaus said.

Nicklaus proved to be less a prognosticator than he was a golfer.

Tom Kite played his way through the wind to finish three under and beat Jeff Sluman by two shots; Montgomerie by three. The Scotsman had come tantalizingly close, but it wasn't good enough.

``When I finished the round, I felt over the last putt that the putt was to win the tournament,'' Montgomerie recalled Wednesday. ``It could have happened, and it just didn't.''

Montgomerie had even more chances to come. He lost a playoff to Ernie Els in the 1994 Open and finished second by a shot to Els three years later at Congressional.

Now, he returns to Pebble Beach still without an Open title, or any other major for that matter. He returns knowing full well that being Europe's best player doesn't mean as much without a major or two to add to his collection.

``I've had a reasonable career and haven't won a major so, yes, there's slightly more pressure on the situation,'' Montgomerie said. ``I've just been unfortunate at the end that someone has done better than me, and that's the way of golf.''

Montgomerie, who has an afternoon tee time Thursday in a featured group with Davis Love III and Greg Norman, appears ready to make yet another run at a U.S. Open title on the same course where he came so close in 1992.

He's won twice this year on the PGA European Tour, and seems to understand that patience on a course with deep rough and small, firm greens is what the U.S. Open is all about.

``I'm trying to get to level par by Friday evening. That's my goal the first two days,'' Montgomerie said. ``Whatever anyone else does, I feel level par on Friday will put me in a good frame to go into the weekend.''

Working in Montgomerie's favor is his accuracy off the tee, always a plus under Open conditions.

``If you don't hit the fairways, you aren't having many birdie putts,'' Montgomerie said. ``That's been the key to my success playing U.S. Opens is that I can hit more fairways than most people.''

Working against Montgomerie is Open history, where no European has won since England's Tony Jacklin turned the trick 30 years ago at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.

Montgomerie has come the closest, but he's not the only European to watch as play unfolds on the spectacular Pebble Beach course.

Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, coming off a thrashing of Tiger Woods in February to win the Match Play Championship, is threatening to replace Montgomerie as the best British player, while Jesper Parnevik of Sweden and Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal have all shown they can compete for major titles.

Not that nationality matters much to the players themselves.

``It could be European, American, South African or wherever,'' Garcia said. ``I'm not really thinking about that. I'm just here to try and play well and try to win.''

So is Montgomerie, who believes he is a better player at the age of 36 than he was in the Open he came so close to winning.

``I strike the ball much better and I feel I'm stronger,'' Montgomerie said. ``I'm mentally stronger than I was and technically a better player than I was. Hopefully, that will help.''