Volvo Masters
Montecastillo Hotel & Golf Resort
Jerez, Spain
29th October - 1st November 1998

Westwood added a 68 to his opening 70 at the season-ending Volvo Masters at Montecastillo near Jerez, but two late eagles and an even later birdie put Montgomerie back in charge of his own destiny.

"This is fun now," said the 35-year-old Scot, his competitive juices really flowing as he knocked in a 30-footer on the 522-yard 12th, a 20-footer on the 517-yard 16th and then a 25-footer on the 422-yard last.

It meant an inward 31, a round of 67 and a halfway total of 137, seven under. And while Australian Peter Lonard leads on 10 under after scoring 66, Montgomerie's burst was good enough to lift him into second place.

The race to be number one for 1998 is far from over with Westwood, his closest challenger for the crown, just a stroke behind.

But Darren Clarke, the only other man who can end Montgomerie's reign, will now have to produce two of the best rounds of his life to do it. Clarke has to win on Sunday even to have a chance to catching the Scot, but, having taken a share of the first round lead with a 67, he managed only a 73 and is now down in 10th place on four under.

As a result, attention is sure to focus on Montgomerie and Westwood over the weekend now. The 25-year-old from Worksop, the defending champion in the event, is sure to finish number one if he wins, and if he is second Montgomerie will have be level with him to claim a sixth title.

It could easily come down to the final green of the final round just as it did three years ago when Montgomerie holed a four-foot putt to deny Sam Torrance.Montgomerie stated: "At the start of the week I hoped that three people would finish ahead of Lee and one ahead of Darren. That way it didn't matter what I did.

"But now I feel I have to take care of it myself rather than rely on others and I relish that. "I like a challenge and I have one here. I am just a very competitive person and I think competitive people work better when it gets tense, which this is now. "I think that competitiveness is in-bred. I have huge ambition and a huge will to win and fortunately I have found a job that I love and that I'm very good at."

It is also very remarding too, of course. If Montgomerie wins both the tournament and the Order of Merit on Sunday he will pocket £336,000 for his week's work and will become the first £6 million man of European golf. Only Bernhard Langer has also won £5 million.

Montgomerie played behind Westwood today and will do so tomorrow in the last two groups.

"I was watching what he was doing, but I'm here to try to win the tournament and so it didn't affect how I played a hole," he said.

In contrast, Westwood had to keep looking back to try to get a clue as to how his Ryder Cup team mate was faring.

"There are so few scoreboards out there I didn't really know how he was going, but then I saw on the scoreboard coming up the last that he had had his two eagles. "But I am still in a good spot. Apart from being 10 ahead this is probably where I would want to be (on Montgomerie's heels)."

His most dramatic moment came on the 432-yard seventh, where his approach from the rough went into the water. He was able to drop on the green, though, and holed from 40 feet for his par.

Westwood then two-putted the long ninth to turn in 34 and, after three-putting the 12th for par, hit a seven-iron to 10 feet on the next and a sand wedge to eight feet on the last to stay right in touch.Clarke was rocked by bogeys at the fifth and seventh holes and said afterwards: "I drove the ball poorly six of them left and the consequence was that I couldn't get close to the flag."

Lonard, a former Australian Masters champion, jumped clear of the field with four birdies in the last seven holes.

Asked whether he felt a bit of a gatecrasher at the Order of Merit party the 31-year-old from Sydney said: "I can think of 166,000 reasons not to worry about that.

"They have 50 times more money than I have and I'm here just to try to win the title."

It would be his first in Europe and would complete his comeback from the malaria-type fever that he feared might end his career earlier this decade.

"It gave me an arthritic problem which meant I couldn't raise my arms and couldn't walk up and down stairs without holding on to something," he said.

"It also left me with the binocularity of a 70-year-old. On greens everything seemed to slope in the same direction and I couldn't judge distance either."

An eye specialist came to the rescue and prescribed special contact lens that enabled him to pursue his profession again.

Joint third with Westwood are Jose Maria Olazabal, Swede Jarmo Sandelin and Lonard's fellow countryman Peter O'Malley, but a 73 from Nick Faldo means he is now 10 shots off the pace and still a million miles away from his first victory since March last year.

Montgomerie, however, calculates he has just 14 miles more walking to complete his six of the best.

1998 Press Association

Second Round Scores

First Round