Bunker Banter: Will London be Montgomerie's launch pad?
Published Date:
02 July 2008
"FORGIVE me for not knowing the winner's name - let's just call him Pablo - but he has a great future ahead of him, the kid."
A well meaning quote if tainted by an unintentional patronising tone.
And who uttered it? Well, it could only be Colin Montgomerie.
To be fair to Monty, he was gracious in a defeat after a stunning effort by Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal saw him beat the Scot into second place by a yawning four shot gap to claim an unexpected French Open victory in Paris on Sunday.
Montgomerie heaped praise on the youngster, and though as we know, he hates coming off second best, he must have been quietly pleased with a fine performance.
A month ago, Monty slid unnoticed out of the world's top 100 for the first time since he was a mere slip of a lad.
That second place not only restored him to that elite group, but also gave him a big boost ahead of the Open at Royal Birkdale in a couple of weeks and also his defence of his European Open title this week, a tournament which after 13 years at Ireland's K Club has now been switched to The London Golf Club.
Strange move that.
The K Club event had became a much loved pre-Open fixture, rather like next week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, where you can guarantee dreamy shots of yachts on the loch and views of the village where 'Take the High Road' was filmed.
The London Club, which lies just beyond the south east fringes of the capital, has sumptuous facilties but as a fairly new set up has little of the tradition and sense of history, though I suppose you could also say that about the K Club.
I was working in the area a few years back when it was launched and there was always a rumour the Japanese former owners who ploughed £44million into the venture did so because they looked on a map and thought the airport at its doorstep was Heathrow.
It's actually the legendary World War Two airfield Biggin Hill, which would be a difficult place to land a 747 in a cross wind, I would guess.
Unless they have a helicopter then, the top boys face a tortuous drive around the M25 to reach the venue.
But when they do so, they should find a true challenge on the Nicklaus designed course.
Single minded gatherer of titles that Monty is, I suspect he'll be putting everything into retaining his crown, and investing just as much effort the following week in Scotland.
And with former Ryder Cup skipper Bernard Gallagher openly touting him as a 'must' for a wild card place when we face the Yanks later this year, there's a feel good factor about the man disrespectful US galleries still call 'Mrs Doubtfire.'
Dare we hope he'll finally grab a Major at a Tiger Woods-less Open at Birkdale?
The full article contains 500 words and appears in Evening Courier newspaper.
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Last Updated:
02 July 2008 8:37 AM
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Source:
Evening Courier
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Location:
Halifax