Monty ready to tame Carnoustie

Colin Montgomerie could not ask for anything more going into this week's Open championship.

Except perhaps for a sudden bout of memory loss.

Winning in front of his home fans at Loch Lomond yesterday - and doing it with a breathtaking closing round of 64 - has given Europe's undisputed number one his sweetest moment as a professional.

But now he moves across to Carnoustie to face the championship which has given him more disappointment than any other.

"One down, one to go," said Montgomerie, fully aware that the biggest test of his character and his game lies just ahead of him.

Five times in the last seven years Montgomerie has crashed out after two rounds of the Open and left question marks over whether he will ever become a major champion.

Now, though, he has to banish the memory of Opens past. All he has to remember is that he is the course record holder at Carnoustie and that he is returning in just about the best form and - equally importantly - in the best mood of his life.

"I can't go into an Open feeling any better - how could I?" he said, struggling to hold back tears which showed how much winning on home soil meant to him.

"I've had 20 wins in Europe, but this is the most special. The support I had was unbelievable. Right from being cheered onto the first tee on day one.

"Sometimes that can hinder you, but I would love to transport this crowd to the east coast of Scotland this week."

And to a man they would probably all love to be there, having witnessed a quite sensational display in Saturday's closing round.

Five shots off the lead after three holes and in danger of going six behind, Montgomerie holed an eight-foot putt to save par on the fourth and, looking back, firmly believes that that was the stroke which made him the first Scot to win a tour event in Scotland since Ken Brown 15 years ago.

"If that putt had not gone in I would not be here," he stated firmly. "That putt was the reason for nine birdies in the next 12 holes."

That magical run, completed with a brilliant five-iron to three feet at the 470-yard 16th, carried Montgomerie to the £166,657 first prize and to a three-stroke victory over teenage sensation Sergio Garcia and Swedes Michael Jonzon and Mats Lanner.

If this is to be the week when Montgomerie finally ends his long wait for a first major, it will be worth £1million to him.

In addition to the £350,000 winner's cheque at the Open the 36-year-old is now halfway towards collecting a million-dollar bonus on offer from Loch Lomond sponsors Standard Life to anyone doing the double.

He was relaxing with his family at the luxurious Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire on Sunday before seeing for himself on Monday if Carnoustie really has been set up to be the toughest Open course in history.

It is certainly the longest at 7,361 yards (and a par 71 remember) and South African Ernie Els, an early visitor last week, talked of the most ferocious rough he has ever seen.

Montgomerie's reaction to that was understandable. "Good," he said. "I hope they narrow the fairways even more."

But the rivals he fears most were revealed when he was then asked about the long list of Americans who are not coming - Fred Couples, John Daly, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Brad Faxon, Scott Hoch, Jack Nicklaus, Loren Roberts and Hank Kuehne.

"Have Woods and Duval pulled out?", he asked hopefully. When told they had not he smiled and added: "Damn."

What Montgomerie will not fall into the trap of doing, he insists, is believing that he has conquered golf.

"When I won my first European tour event in Portugal in 1989 I won by 11 and I thought the game was easy," he remembers.

"I went to Valderrama for the Volvo Masters the next week and opened with an 82. I've matured since then, I think, and hopefully I've learnt from mistakes I made.

"Yes, I'm confident, but I've got to be level-headed. You tend to think sometimes that the game is easier that it is and because of that you start attacking and get into a problem."

Trying to attack the beast that is Carnoustie could be fatal to his chances. He may have shot a 64 during the 1995 Scottish Open on the links, but he expects it to be a different animal now - one perfectly capable of chewing up anybody.

Dane Thomas Bjorn's first comment to Montgomerie after his latest victory was: "What planet are you from?"

It was indeed an out-of-this-world performance, but Montgomerie has shown in the past he is all too human.

This week, above all others, he cannot allow his temper and short fuse to get the better of him.