Montgomerie in confident mood

GOLF/European Tour: Colin Montgomerie, his confidence given a much-needed boost with a third place finish in the Asian Open on Sunday, looks to bridge a 12-year gap when he contests the Spanish Open at San Roque this week.

The eight-time European number one, who won the title in Madrid in 1994, was just one shot away from the play-off in which Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano beat Henrik Stenson in Shanghai at the weekend.

After missing the halfway cut in his five previous tournaments it represented a massive improvement and now Montgomerie, currently 18th in the world, is the highest-ranked player on view as the European circuit returns to home soil.

The 42-year-old Scot has already competed in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Australia, America and China this year, but told the tour website, www.europeantour.com: "I love the competition, simple as that. It's the thing that keeps me motivated.

"I love to try and win and going out and beating 155 other guys is a thrill. That keeps me going. I am very competitive and, to be honest, I don't think I'll ever lose that."

Defending champion this week is Swede Peter Hanson, but nobody has been able to hang onto the Spanish Open crown since Max Faulkner way back in 1953. Spain's top two Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal are not competing, but Fernandez-Castano will be hoping to keep on a winning run and become just the third Spaniard to lift the title since 1972.

Seve Ballesteros, his game and health still not up to the level he wants to make a return to the tour, won in 1981, 1985 and 1995 - his last victory anywhere - and Garcia was triumphant in 2002.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, who briefly shared the lead on the final day of the Masters at Augusta before slipping to 11th, and Montgomerie are the only members of the last Ryder Cup team taking part.

Winning would put Jimenez into one of the top 10 automatic places in this year's cup race. Montgomerie lies fourth and is virtually certain to earn an eighth cap against the Americans at the K Club in September.

The five-strong Irish challenge includes Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie, David Higgins, Michael Hoey and Stephen Browne.

Pádraig Harrington was the last Irishman to win the event when he triumphed at Club De Campo, Madrid in 1996.

US TOUR: Phil Mickelson makes his first appearance since winning the Masters as the US Tour returns to the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans this week.

Mickelson will be hunting for a third successive victory, having preceded his Augusta triumph with a 13-shot demolition of the field at the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta.

With the TPC Louisiana course having suffered too much damage from Hurricane Katrina, the tournament switches back to English Turn - which means Lee Westwood returns to the lay-out on which he enjoyed his one and only success in America in 1998.

The US Tour was the first major sports organisation to commit its return to New Orleans for 2006, with commissioner Tim Finchem saying: "We are proud that we committed last November to bring the tournament back, even though we knew it would be a challenge and that we would have to change venues.

"We knew it was extremely important for the host organisation, its charities, title sponsor Zurich and certainly for the city of New Orleans to return.

"We also saw this as an opportunity to utilise our resources to bring special focus to the city's recovery efforts to a number of corporate leaders that partner with the PGA Tour." Television coverage will be supplemented with features on the areas of recovery.

Pádraig Harrington, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Graeme McDowell, who finally made his first halfway cut of the year in Houston last week, also play, while American Andrew Magee makes his second straight start after surgery in February to remove a cancerous tumour from his left kidney.

CHALLENGE TOUR: British Amateur Champion Brian McElhinney makes his debut in the professional arena today at the European Challenge Tour's Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata. The 23-year-old will meet a tough introduction to the cut and thrust of the professional ranks after playing in two of golf's most prestigious tournaments as an amateur at the 2005 British Open and this year's US Masters.

McElhinney is joined in Italy by Michael McGeady, as well as Challenge Tour regulars Justin Kehoe and Colm Moriarty.