| Hamburg,
Germany, 28th May 1998 -
There is £1.1 million in prize money on offer in Hamburg this week and the field
includes all the 1997 European Ryder Cup team, except for Nick Faldo and Jesper
Parnevik. Colin
Montgomerie, who won the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth on Monday, starts
favourite to win again and is extra keen to have another strong week. "It
would be wonderful to win the Order of Merit for the sixth successive year and
another victory would be very helpful towards that end but it doesn't interest
me the same as my world ranking position," Montgomerie said on the day before
the tournament started. "I'm
fifth at present but I'm very close to Greg Norman and Davis Love and, hopefully,
one time I'll get to number one. "No,
I'm not proud. I'll take one week. That's fine. That's all you need." US
Masters champion Mark O'Meara, criticised for marking his ball wrongly on the
final green when winning the Lancome Trophy in Paris last year, is in the field
this week and is adamant that he always plays with the utmost integrity. "I've
played for a long time and my intentions and the way I play the game have never
been in question. "There's
no question that the video shows there's a possibility that I might have mis-marked
my ball. "I'm
not denying that and I never have. "You
have to understand that I'm standing above the ball, I marked my ball, turned
it around and put it back down. "In
my view it might be a little bit different from the camera view so I could have
made a mistake. Absolutely, I could have made a mistake. "But
my intentions were not to try and bend the rules. "Never,
nor have they ever been in that way in the game of golf. "Sure,
I was disappointed and a little bit hurt when this thing came out." Jarmo
Sandelin, the Swede who finished second, one shot behind O'Meara, in the Lancome
Trophy last September has made it clear that he thinks that the 41-year-old American
should return the trophy and, presumably, give it to him. Yet
O'Meara stressed on Thursday: "Sandelin can say what he likes. I can't put
words in his mouth. "I
can just tell you how I feel. If I felt in my own heart that I had tried to 'jimmie'
(fix) the round or anything like that I would come forward and say, 'hey, you
can have it.' "But
the people who know me know that's not the case and I have had the utmost support
from the US Players who know me but haven't seen the video. "But
let's move on. It's not that big a deal. If Sandelin wants to make it a big deal,
that's his point. "Any
time you have any controversy it's going to be written about and I understand
that and I'm man enough to face the music. "I
think I've conducted myself honourably on and off the course in a very professional
manner. Ross
McFarlane will be defending the title he won a year ago when he overcame strong
winds to secure his maiden European Tour title by a stroke from Anders Forsbrand
and Gordon Brand Jnr. Among
past champions in the field is Bernhard Langer, bidding for his eleventh win in
his native Germany. Langer took the title in 1995, easing into the last round
with a five-stroke lead after heading the field from start to finish. | 
