Monty may miss Masters event

GOLF: Colin Montgomerie has still not decided whether he will defend his Scandinavian Masters title in Stockholm in two weeks' time, a spokeswoman for his management company said yesterday.

The seven-times European number one endured a torrid time at the British Open last week, finishing 82nd at 13-over-par before threatening to withdraw from events in the next two weeks because of his treatment by the press.Montgomerie was never down to play in the Dutch Open starting tomorrow, but his threat to pull out of the Scandinavian Masters will be a huge disappointment to the organisers of an event he has won three times. "No decision has yet been made this week about when Colin (Montgomerie) will next play," the spokesperson said.

"His manager Guy (Kinnings) will be meeting him later this week. Guy and Monty will sit down on Friday to discuss it."

If Montgomerie does carry out his threat it will mean an inactive few weeks for the 38-year-old ahead of the USPGA Championship - the fourth and final major of the year. As well as not entering the Dutch Open, Montgomerie has not registered for the Wales Open, which precedes the USPGA Championship starting on August 15th.

Montgomerie, who has yet to win a major title, was accused of stalking off the Muirfield course in a temper on Saturday after crashing to an 84 in storm conditions. "I'm hurt by it, I'm really hurt. I've pulled out of golf tournaments for the next two weeks. I can't handle it anymore," Montgomerie said on Sunday.

"I would have spoken yesterday. But Tiger Woods was here and you were more interested in him . . . I didn't storm off. I didn't go off in a temper, okay? I played in very difficult circumstances yesterday and I'm very disappointed you (the press) keep on trying to believe I have a bad temper on the golf course.

He was reported to have sworn at a BBC radio journalist after his first-round 74 but said later "peace had broken out" with the reporter after his course-record 64 on Friday.

CRICKET: Ireland made it two wins out of three matches when they squeezed past Holland by 11 runs in the European Championship at Eglinton yesterday. The game was reduced to 37 overs a side because the start was delayed by rain. Batting first, Ireland totalled 193 for eight off their 37 overs. Andy White top-scored with 35, Kyle McCallan was next with 34 and there were other useful contributions from Jason Molins and Paul Mooney.

Ireland appeared to be coasting to victory when they had Holland reeling on 17 for five wickets as the early batting collapsed, thanks to good bowling by Paul Mooney and Gary Neely. But then Holland's tail began to wag and at the finish Ireland's victory margin was narrow indeed.

TENNIS: Oliver Foreman, a former collegiate player on the US circuit, last night provided one reason why an unseeded player can figure strongly in the closing stages of the men's Irish Open championships at Templeogue, writes Pat Roche.

Inadequate information on the records of some visiting players did not warrant seeding and Foreman, a heavy hitter, outclasssd the number six seed David O'Connell, 6-0 6-3. It seems Foremans impressive wins in collegiate competition earlier this year has not been given due recognition and he is now regarded as one of the favourites on the evidence shown here so far.

Another unseeded visitor, Swiss Philip Horyna, has only dropped three games in two outings. Last evening he defeated Des Early 6-2 6-0.

Nelson Boyle of Larne ousted Trent Aaron of Los Angeles 6-3 6-3while James Colhoun, the giant-killer of last year's event when he knocked out Rosco Tanner, had a facile 6-0 6-1 win over Donal Lynch. Conor Taylor, seeded five, advanced at the expense of Killian Pender despite being fully extended in a tense 12th game of the second set.

An elbow injury ruled Barry King out when trailing 5-3 to Mark Finnegan in the first set.

Lucy Ahl, the top seed in the women's Leinster event, found cruising speed early to beat Susan Campbell for no loss.

Men's singles: Second Round - M Finnegan bt B King 5-3 retired; C Taylor bt K Pender 6-3 7-5; P Horyna bt D Early 6-2 6-0; N Malone bt S Koloratnic 6-0 6-0; S Taylor bt P Foley 6-3 7-5; J Fox bt K Falsey 6-0 6-1; A Harrison bt D McLoughlin 6-1 6-3; G Kilduff bt J Revill 6-2 6-0; J Colhoun bt D Lynch 6-0 6-1; N Boyle bt T Aaron 6-3 6-3; O Foreman bt D O'Connell 6-0 6-3.

Women's singles: Second Round - L Ahl bt S Campbell 6-0 6-0; G Misiurova bt S McIntyre 6-4 6-3; E O'Riain bt J Burke 6-1 6-0; K Nugent bt R Halligan 6-3 6-0; E Sloan bt G O'Donoghue 6-2 7-5; R Fagan bt S Newman 6-1 6-0.