The Scot, who can blow hot and cold both with his play and his temper, is unbeaten after two days, having contributed 3 1/2 points toward his team's 8-8 tie with the United States going into Sunday's singles.

Montgomerie has a victory and a tie over Phil Mickelson and David Toms in team matches. He also has team wins over Scott Hoch and Scott Verplank, and Hoch and Jim Furyk.

Monty has fully lived up to captain Sam Torrance's description of him as the team's "rock."

"He's No. 1," Torrance said. "That's what he's been for the last seven years. Considering what has happened with his back and his injuries, he's as good as it gets. That's why he's No. 1 tomorrow."

On Sunday, Montgomerie takes on Hoch again in the opening singles as Europe tries to win back the trophy at The Belfry. If Montgomerie wins, he will put Europe back in front after the Americans came back to tie the match at the end of the first two days.

Montgomerie now has a Ryder Cup record of 15 wins, seven losses and five tied matches. He has been on two winning teams.

"We need a lot of good singles results but we have won the singles matches before. We won at Oak Hill," Montgomerie said refering to Europe's victory at Rochester, New York, in 1995 when the team came back from 9-7 down to dominate the singles and win the match 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.

Coming into the 34th Ryder Cup, there were strong doubts about Montgomerie's fitness.

Told that his back problems were the result of excess weight, he has been trying to lose pounds this summer. But he still has been forced to pull out of or skip tournaments because of the pain.

On Saturday, Montgomerie teamed up with Bernhard Langer in a 1-up victory over Verplank and Hoch. He and Padraig Harrington had a 2 and 1 win over Mickelson and Toms.

Montgomerie had six birdies Saturday against Mickelson and Toms and has collected a total of 18 birdies in four matches.

Langer, playing in his 10th Ryder Cup, shared in 2 1/2 of the points won by Montgomerie this week. The two never trailed in any of their three matches together.

"We've been having a wonderful partnership," the German said. "We first played together in '91 and enjoyed each other's company. Then we played together in '97 at Valderrama and did well there."