Ferrie sinks under the weight of Monty's charge

Dunhill Links Championship: Colin Montgomerie yesterday ended a run of 46 tournaments without victory when he overcame a five-shot deficit on the overnight leader Kenny Ferrie to win the Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course in St Andrews.

The victory lifted the Scotsman into second place in the European Order of Merit, earned him the biggest cheque of his European Tour career, €662,415, and made him a virtual certainty, even at this early stage, for Ian Woosnam's Ryder Cup team next year.

"You go so long without a win that you begin to wonder when the next one will come," the Scot said, clearly emotional. "I've said for a while that the next win would be the most important of my career, and this is it; the most important win of my career, not least because it is here at St Andrews.

"I won seven Order of Merits and I would not say it was easy, but it was expected . . . and then it stops. My life changed dramatically a couple of years ago, but I was looking forward to coming back here so soon after the Open experience (last July). I'm thrilled."

On a day of such accomplishment by Montgomerie it would be almost impolite to point out that this was not one of the more impressive triumphs the Scotsman has fashioned, not least because he covered the final nine holes in two over par. Fortunately, Tiger Woods, who easily beat him into second place at the British Open in July, was elsewhere yesterday, leaving the Englishman Kenneth Ferrie with the job of denying the Scot a victory at the home of golf.

Accomplished player though he is, Ferrie is no Woods. Five shots ahead after three rounds, the winner of this year's European Open at the K Club could shoot only a five-over-par 77 to finish in second place on 280, one shot behind the Scotsman, and one ahead of group of four players that included Padraig Harrington and Henrik Stenson. Harrington closed with a two-under-par 70 that included no fewer than seven birdies but also five bogeys.

Darren Clarke, who has decided to miss this week's WGC American Express Championship in San Francisco to be with his wife, Heather, who is battling cancer, was a shot further back also after a 70.

Clarke has also pulled out of the following week's Las Vegas Invitational and will now not be able to fulfil this season's 15-tournament commitment to the US PGA Tour. His manager, Andrew Chandler, will ask US Tour commissioner Tim Finchem for a special dispensation for Clarke to keep his American tour card.

Paul McGinley finished on one-over after a final-round 72.

If neither Montgomerie nor Ferrie played their best coming down the stretch, it was Montgomerie who ultimately played better. Two birdie putts - a 50-footer at the 15th and a swinging four-footer at the last - proved to be the difference.

"I feel I let him (win). I've got nobody to blame but myself," Ferrie said. "I am sure in a few weeks I'll look back on this and take out a few positives, but right now I am very, very disappointed."

He has every right to be disappointed. After playing the first six holes in one under par, the Englishman's game started to crumble on the seventh. He hit his tee-shot into a bunker, could only knock his ball up the fairway, and from there he took another four shots to complete the hole in double bogey. His overnight lead of five stokes had gone.

More worryingly for Ferrie, so too had his swing. He is not exactly Ben Hogan at the best of times, but the pressure of competing for the biggest prize of his life had transformed his rustic but effective swipe into something altogether more erratic.

By contrast Montgomerie looked utterly at ease as he covered the front nine in a three-under 33. But this place has made a fool of better players than him down the decades but seldom has it performed the trick in such a short space of time. Joint leader standing on the 11th tee, he was three shots behind walking on to the 13th after three-putting the 11th from 45 feet. He did the same on the next but with even less aplomb, missing from four feet to run up a double bogey.

At that stage, Montgomerie looked more like a journeyman crumbling when faced with the challenge of winning a big tournament rather than someone who has won seven Order of Merit titles.

His only consolation was that Ferrie could not shake off his nerves either. A run of three bogeys in four holes from the 13th restored parity between the two at eight under par, setting up an exciting climax.

Both hit their drives to within yards of the 18th green but Montgomerie played the better approach shot, rolling a long putt to within four feet of the hole. Ferrie could only dribble his effort to around 25 feet. He made par, leaving Montgomerie with his putt for birdie and the cheque.

As the Scotsman stood up to take the shot he looked for all the world like a plumper, more stooped Doug Sanders standing over his four-footer to win the 1970 Open. To the immense relief of the galleries, their hero did not make the same mistake as the unfortunate American.