Prepared for take-off

Colin Montgomerie considers it "unbelievable" that fellow Scot David Coulthard is planning to race in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

The horrific pictures of the wreckage of the jet which killed two pilots and from which Coulthard escaped and then pulled his fiancee and trainer clear did not, however, change Montgomerie's mind about using a private plane to get to the French Open, beginning in Paris tomorrow.

"I'm not the best of flyers and it doesn't help - it's very shocking," said Europe's top golfer for the past seven years.

"David's got to put it behind him, but I don't know how long that will take. I think it's unbelievable that he could race this weekend - amazing."

Since the deaths of US Open champion Payne Stewart and five others - also in a Learjet 35 - last October, Montgomerie has not used that particular type of plane.

Unlike Ian Woosnam he has never owned a jet, but regularly leases them - just like Coulthard - to make life easier and enable him to spend more time at home.

Montgomerie said: "David is okay, but you've got to remember that the two pilots were both married. It'll come out later, but you don't know whether they saved the passengers at the cost of their own lives. Usually these guys are like that. It's amazing what people do."

Part of Montgomerie's luggage for this week's tournament was the usual "five or six" putters, one of which he hopes will enable him to grab his first victory of the season.

Disgusted with how he performed on the greens in finishing fifth in last week's Spanish Open, he said: "I want to get the feeling of winning again. Just the feeling.

"The way I struck the ball last week I should have won, but I didn't. I don't enter tournaments to finish fifth nowadays and I get frustrated when I play well enough to win and don't."

Le Golf National just outside Paris may not be the place for Montgomerie to find his putting touch, though. The greens are still recovering from the disease fusarium and French number one Jean Van de Velde commented: "Three or four of them are really dodgy."

Also included in the field is New Zealander Michael Campbell, back from a two-month layoff. Campbell kicked off the season by winning the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan and Heineken Classic in Perth.

He led the Order of Merit at that point but since his first-round defeat to Tiger Woods in the World Match Play in California in February, he has been overtaken by Darren Clarke, winner that week, and Masters runner-up Ernie Els.

The immediate target for the Kiwi is to get back into the top two in the next three weeks and so qualify for next month's US Open at Pebble Beach.

It could take two more wins for him to achieve that, however. He is £162,000 behind Els and £374,000 adrift of Clarke. This week's first prize is £116,778.