The Open Championship 2001

If his much-trumpeted failure to win a major is a weight on Colin Montgomerie's already stooping shoulders the Scot carried it without a grimace on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old was in cheerful, self-depreciative mood on Wednesday as he discussed his prospects for this week's Open.

"Okay, let's have the negatives," he said before the assembled reporters could manage a question.

"I'm out of the top 10, my Open record's pretty poor, my last two Sundays haven't been good, it's a major.

"But I can say I'm coming in with more confidence than for a while and for the first time in a long time I'm actually looking forward to it."

Montgomerie has good reason to sneer at his Open record, which in 11 attempts has produced five missed cuts and only one top-10 finish.

While he was ruling the roost in Europe he was regularly listed among the favourites but his miserable run has put paid to such predictions -- something he hopes will work in his favour at Royal Lytham.

"I think it's good that the public expectation is lower, it might help a little to keep the pressure off," he said. "But I still think I can win and I wouldn't be here if I didn't think that."

Montgomerie eventually was steered towards the ubiquitous issue of his failure to capture a major and said he was pleased to hear that Tiger Woods said on Tuesday that the Scot was too good not to win one.

"It was kind of Tiger to say that and I've been close three times," he said in relation to his second places at the US Open (twice) and the US PGA.

"Once it was my fault but not on the other occasions, I was beaten by better golf.

"But I don't feel I'm running out of time. I'm only 38 and I'm a better golfer than I was. And I'll only stop coming when I no longer think I can win it."

Although he dropped out of the world top 10 this week for the first time since 1995 his win at the Irish Open last month, which ended a 13 month barren spell, has lifted his spirits.

"That helped and I've also been on the leaderboard in the last two tournaments so I'm playing well and feeling pretty good," he said.

Montgomerie said he was hitting the ball very straight on his Tuesday morning solo practice round but decided Wednesday's winds were so fierce that they might destroy his swing and opted for some putting instead.

The weather forecast is for a drop in the wind but if it keeps up Montgomerie predicted that this Open would be even tougher than Carnoustie two years ago.

But he added his voice to the mountain of praise for the course, saying it was a fair test.

"I haven't seen too many at the weekend but this set-up is the best I've seen ever," he said.

"At Carnoustie it was fairway then hay. Here the rough is graded so you've got a metre or so where you can see it -- and then it's hay."

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