Monty rules row festers

The European Tour's efforts to dampen the most combustible rules controversy to engulf the game for years suffered a setback last night when it emerged that discontent over Colin Montgomerie's conduct during the Indonesian Open, when he incorrectly replaced his ball after a weather delay, has spread.

Gerry Norquist, a member of the Asian Tour board and one of two people who complained about the Scot's behaviour to tournament officials in Jakarta at the time, said there was astonishment among some of his fellow professionals over the incident at the Cengkareng Golf Club in March, as well as concern over the way the affair had since been handled both by the authorities and Montgomerie himself.

"Giving his money to charity was a nice gesture (Montgomerie donated his £24,000 prize money to the Tsunami relief fund) but unfortunately all of this calls into question his integrity," he said. "Every one of us playing this great game of golf assumes that the guy you are playing next has the integrity to play by the rules. Any time that is called into question, then that is a serious matter.

"The guys who are talking about it are astonished by what happened. Monty has a lot of respect on the Asian Tour, but this has been difficult. I guess we are all human. We all make mistakes."

Norquist's comments come only days after England's Gary Evans claimed "98 per cent" of the European Tour were upset with Montgomerie over his conduct and that "there has been smoke around Monty before".

That prompted the European Tour's chief executive George O'Grady to accuse Evans of undermining not only Montgomerie but also the entire European Tour.

Norquist's views carry added significance because he was one of only two people who raised Montgomerie's conduct with officials at the time, the other being the Dane Soren Kjeldsen.

Unlike Kjeldsen, who has declined to comment, Norquist explained why he was concerned enough with what he saw on television after Montgomerie hit his ball close to a bunker during the delayed second round.

"Before the weather delay he was in a very difficult position. The camera was right there, showing he was having difficulty taking a stance because of the bunker," he said.

"I came back to the course the next day and one of the things I wanted to see was how Monty would finish. When I saw he made par I thought to myself 'wow!' Then I saw the replay and I thought 'holy cow'. I was astonished because the ball was nowhere near where it was the day before. My astonishment came from the fact that he was now able to take a stance comfortably."

Montgomerie's ball was missing when he returned the following day, forcing him to estimate where it had been.

He did so in consultation with his playing partners - as laid down in the rules - but has since conceded he made an "inadvertent error" in judging where the ball had been.

Norquist approached the tournament referee Jose Zamora, who said he had reviewed the footage and had decreed Montgomerie had not broken any rules.

Norquist added that a number of players on the Asian Tour had complained that they have not been kept informed of the fallout from an incident.

"It is extremely rare that a guy of Monty's stature gets called into question," he said, "and some guys out here are not satisfied because they have not been told what is going on."