When Colin Montgomerie talks, the golfing world listens. And even on those occasions when he didn't talk, those glowering, seething silences would still speak volumes.
Yesterday, the host of this week’s Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at Trump International Golf Links on the outskirts of Aberdeen made an eyebrow raising and concerning admission.
After a one-under 71, which left the redoubtable Scot sitting just three strokes off the early lead held by Gary Orr, Scott Henderson and Jarmo Sandelin, Monty revealed that this over-50s showpiece may be his last event of 2024 due to ongoing health issues.
“I haven’t been well the last six months, I have been very poorly,” said the 61-year-old. “I have been taking a lot of time off. I have never done that in my life.
"I might take the rest of the year off. I need to, I’m not well. I have kept it quite quiet but I’m not well so we just keep going and we will get through to Sunday.”
Asked to elaborate, Montgomerie would only say that his problems were “internal.”
With the kind of enduring properties you’d get with a cast iron rivet, Monty continues to soldier on. On the face of it, a 71 over this exacting, unforgiving links wasn’t bad at all. Try telling Montgomerie that.
“Colin Montgomerie of old would have shot 66,” he said with the kind of yearning sigh that could’ve been accompanied by a wistful Perry Como song.
“Colin Montgomerie at 61 shoots 71. It is as simple as that. I maximise every score right now. That is what I do every round. It’s frustrating. You can’t score 67 when you have played 67-ish.”
If the tools of his long-standing trade do get shoved away at the end of this week, Montgomerie was asked about alternative pastimes. “How’s your gardening?,” chirped one of the media men.
“It’s about to become an awful lot better,” chuckled Monty as he conjured up a delightful image of him edging the grass and gently tending his hardy Geraniums.
“There’s lots of grass to do, I can’t wait. I’ll be like Bob MacIntyre’s father. But me putting the clubs away in August? It’s unheard of.”
As Montgomerie darted off to perform a variety of tournament host duties – like a garden, the work is never done - Helensburgh stalwart Orr inched himself into the upper echelons of the leaderboard with a four-under 68.
This was more like it from the 57-year-old, who missed the cut in last week’s Senior Open down the road at Carnoustie. “I played bloody awful,” said Orr with a wry smile as he gave a succinct summing up of that early exit.
He was a bit more chipper yesterday and raking putts of 25-feet on the 13th and 30-feet on the 15th during a little flurry of birdies aided the Scot’s advance as he made a sprightly start to his bid for a third victory on the Legends Tour.
“I putted very well which makes a big difference,” added Orr. His compatriot, Henderson, joined the posse on four-under although the Aberdonian was left to reflect on what might have been after a barnstorming start to his round.
Through his opening 11 holes, Henderson was seven-under as he embarked on a charge that could’ve been performed with a lance.
“My nephew who was following me said, ‘keep going like this and it’s the course record’,” said Henderson. “I felt like saying ‘this course can grab you at any moment’.”
Henderson was right. A bogey on the 13th was followed by a double-bogey on the 14th as the former Northern Open champion’s surge came shuddering to a halt. It was still a good day at the office, though.
“If you get a little off your game here it will expose you,” said the 1997 DP World Tour rookie of the year as he underlined the abundant perils and pitfalls that dwell amid the towering dunes of Balmedie. “You just try to guide it around and stay out of the s**t.”
English veteran, Simon Khan, was straight off to the physio’s hut after hirpling his way to a spirted 68 with a hamstring niggle. Beware the injured golfer?
“My golf actually improved when I tweaked it,” smiled Khan, who still came home in five-under despite his twinge. Sandelin, a Ryder Cup player 25 years ago, birdied his last to make it a four-way tie at the top.
