It’s been 16 years since Colin Montgomerie last completed a hat-trick of title triumphs.
Here in 2016, he’s aiming for another triple whammy in this generation game.
At the age of 52, Monty’s time among golf’s golden oldies has been sprinkled with silverware and in Michigan this week, the redoubtable Scot will be aiming for a third successive victory in the Senior PGA Championship.
After all those near misses and agonising defeats on American soil during his pomp in the 1990s and into the noughties, Montgomerie has been born again in the USA since reaching his half century. Life begins at 50 and all that.
In 2014, he won the Senior PGA Championship – his first ‘major’ – at Harbor Shores and he will return to that same venue looking to mount another successful defence and claim his fourth grand slam win among the golfing auld yins.
Back in 2000, Monty completed three BMW PGA Championship victories on the spin. He won’t be at Wentworth for the European Tour’s flagship event this week but it seems Harbor Shores has become another of his happy hunting grounds
“Winning three in a row doesn’t happen a lot in many sports and it would be a dream come true,” said the former Ryder Cup talisman. “To finally win a 72-hole strokeplay event in America was wonderful. It meant as much to me to win the Senior PGA in 2014 as it did trying to win the US PGA on the main tour. It was the same feeling.”
Even those with their hearts encased in cement would not have grudged Monty that first major moment in 2014 as he clutched the Senior PGA trophy and displayed the kind of gleaming beam that hadn’t been seen since the Bee Gees went for a scale and polish.
After anguish-laden defeats in US Opens and US PGA Championships down the years, it was a soothing redemption.
Asked if he had ever cried on the golf course, Monty replied: “not on the course but afterwards I have and that was in 1997 (at the US Open) when I thought I was going to win against Ernie (Els) at Congressional. I was playing the best golf of my life and I shed a tear after that. I’d given it my all for four days and I’d led for most of the time. It’s hard to lead in majors, it’s hard to sleep properly and it’s tough to do things naturally. It was a poor flight home that night.”
That was then, but this is now. With his unwavering competitive instinct, Montgomerie will get himself into combat mode and revel in the cut-and-thrust. “The Champions Tour is getting better every year,” he said. “The younger guys just turning 50 and coming on to the tour are stronger, longer and fitter so it’s getting harder every year to sustain one’s position. But I’ll be battling as hard as ever. I’ve won here before and that gives me confidence. You feel one up on the first tee but you have to prove it over four days. As soon as you think you have mastered this game it comes back to bite you. Everybody knows that.”
While he has the pressing issue of a senior major to defend, Montgomerie did cast an eye forward to a potential homecoming in The Open Championship at Royal Troon, the Ayrshire club where he is an honorary member. He’ll have do it the hard way by qualifying from a 36-hole shoot-out at Hillside in Southport – “I did ask for an invitation but they never give invitations so they’ll not change the rules for me” – but, as ever, Monty will be up for the challenge.
“If I’m going to play in one more Open I’d love it to be this one,” he said. “I’m taking a week off to attempt to qualify. We will go over there for three days of preparation and let’s hope it comes off. 60 players for maybe five spots? It’s tough. But at the same time, if I can play my best, then I can give myself a chance.”
First things first, though. Monty has a title treble to tie up.
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