A major boost for Montgomerie

Colin Montgomerie was helpless for a change yesterday, stuck in a dentist's chair to have the most troublesome tooth in golf removed. If he needed something to take his mind off the procedure, however, then Mark O'Meara's assertion that Europe's number one "would win a major within the next year" was probably sufficient material to chew on.

Before rushing away from Wentworth on Sunday night O'Meara reopened the old warchest about the "best-player-never-to-have-won-a-major . . . yet" debate by putting his money on Monty. "I have no doubt he can win one, a major, it is just a matter of time," said O'Meara. "He's a great competitor. He has got great hands, and I think he has got great desire."

O'Meara, winner last year of the US Masters and the British Open, added: "You are looking at a guy who is 42, and it took 17 or 18 years to win one."

The one blot on Montgomerie's copy book is his failure to win a major. For the past six years he has dominated the European moneylist - and he looks set to take his seventh straight Order of Merit - and, so far this season, the Scot has notched up six victories on the tour. It's a level of consistency that no-one else has come close to matching, and a statistic that pleases the man himself.

"My worst finish on the tour is 20th all year, which means I'm playing as consistently as I've ever done. At the end of this season, I can sit back and honestly say that I have improved again for the 12th year running," said Montgomerie.

Such consistency is based on a swing that never changes. As O'Meara observed: "I just think he has got really good hands. The one thing about Colin Montgomerie is that he has never changed. His swing looks like it has always been the same, and he keeps it pretty simple. He knows what he can do, and does it." Montgomerie, however, has been struggling to get the monkey off his back for so long that O'Meara's words about him winning a major were met with a degree of caution. "You can never say that I am going to win one," remarked Montgomerie, "because there are only four and I'm sure Tiger (Woods) will win one and (Sergio) Garcia another, so I'm down to two already.

"You have to be fortunate to win a major. Hopefully, I'll be in contention for a couple and hopefully the door will open."

Indeed, Montgomerie is determined to go ahead with his plans to cut down on the number of appearances he makes in the United States. Although O'Meara went out of his way to inform Montgomerie, who has been the target of verbal abuse at tournaments Stateside, of the respect he has from players and fans over in the US - and reminded him that when Jack Nicklaus started taking over from Arnold Palmer that the crowds were screaming at him on the golf course, shouting "Fat Jack and this and that" - the Scot insists he will curtail his engagements.

"Next year I intend to just play in the three majors over there, the TPC and the World Golf Championship events. It has nothing to do with what happened at Brookline. In fact, I believe that spectators and players respect me for the way I behaved at the Ryder Cup. Noone needs that sort of abuse that I took, but it has nothing to do with my decision to cut down on the number of tournaments I play over there. I just need to cut down."

Montgomerie has decided to miss this week's Belgacom Open - although he will conduct a twoday corporate engagement at La Manga later this week - and will return to the competitive trail for the Volvo Masters and the following week's WGC American Express Championship in Valderrama. Incidentally, a number of Americans - including O'Meara - have yet to decide whether or not to play in Valderrama where the $1 million winner's prize could determine the destination of the Order of Merit titles on either side of the Atlantic.

At this stage, two Irishmen, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington, are guaranteed entry into the AmEx tournament and a number of international players yesterday confirmed their participation. Carlos Franco, Nick Price, Steve Elkington and Ernie Els have all confirmed the championship is on their schedule.

Meanwhile, Greg Norman has announced that his Australian event, the Greg Norman Holden International, will be co-sanctioned between the Australasian and European Tours next year. Norman has committed Aus$1 million from his "own back pocket" to bring the total prizemoney to Aus$2 million for the tournament which takes place at The Lakes Golf Course in Sydney on February 3rd-6th. "We wanted to put Australia on the world golf map." Ken Schofield of the European Tour welcomed the event joining the Heineken Classic in Perth, which takes place the previous week, as a co-sanctioned tournament. "Few players in the history of the game have achieved more in increasing the global reputation of golf than Greg Norman."