Colin Montgomerie interview: “Competitiveness, more than the game of golf, is what gets me up in the morning.” | City A.M.
Colin Montgomerie doesn’t need to be asked twice whether, after 30 years on tour and a list of achievements as long as one of his tee shots, the competitive fire still burns bright.
“It does, you know. It really does,” he tells City A.M. “I’ve had the same caddie now for 25 years, every victory’s been with him, and we feel the same walking down the last fairway. If you’re three ahead, you feel ‘as long as I don’t make a complete hash of this, I’m OK’. And it’s a fantastic feeling.
“It’s the same feeling as it was walking down the Wentworth PGA Championship [which he won three times]. A win’s a win and there’s something special about it, there really is.”
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Montgomerie revisited that winning feeling at the Shipco Masters in Denmark last month, a couple of weeks before his 55th birthday.
It was the Scot’s ninth title on the Staysure Tour – the new name for the European Senior Tour – and maintained his record of winning a title every year since becoming eligible for the seniors circuit in 2013.
“It’s a huge self-esteem boost, to be honest,” he says. “There’s 60 guys entered, they all fancy their chances, and it’s great to finish top of the pack. Your self-esteem goes through the roof, you feel great about yourself and it gives you confidence.
“And that is what this game is mostly about: belief. If you believe you’re going to do something, you’re halfway to achieving it. That’s where the confidence comes in. And I’m confident now, having done that. That’s half the battle; the other half is hitting the golf ball. But at least I’m confident doing it.”
Montgomerie’s boost is a timely one as he prepares for a tournament that has long been in his crosshairs: the Senior Open at St Andrews.
Runner-up there to Tiger Woods at the 2005 Open in one of his handful of Major near misses, he returns to the home of golf next week in search of a fourth senior Major and a first on home soil.
“As soon as St Andrews was announced as the venue this was the one I was working towards. That was two and a half years ago. So you can see that I’m really up for this,” he says.
Tiger Woods beat Montgomerie to the 2005 Open at St Andrews (Source: Getty)
“This is the tournament of the year, of the last two years. That’s my focus. That’s what I’m working towards. It would mean the world to me to win at St Andrews; it would to anyone. Especially as a Scot. The support will be great. I look forward to doing well there.”
The Senior Open marks the first leg of a rare British double-header for Montgomerie, who now spends much of his time Stateside on the PGA Tour Champions.
From St Andrews he will head to London Golf Club in Kent for the PGA Seniors Championship.
He joins a high-quality field including Paul Broadhurst and Paul McGinley at the pro-am event, which runs from 2-5 August and is back on the calendar following a three-year break.
“We drive down the road and we start again,” he says. “I was supposed to be playing in America but I’m going to stay over here and play. It’s about an hour from home in Surrey and I can drive there and really look forward to it.
London Golf Club hosts the PGA Seniors Championship on 2-5 August (Source: London Golf Club)
“The London Club, we played the European Open there a few times and enjoyed it down there. I know the course, I know my way around, so I look forward to that one too.”
With more than a half-century of professional titles, eight European Order of Merits and a place in golf lore long secured, Montgomerie could be forgiven for putting his feet up.
But he says it is the urge to test himself time and again, more than the pleasure of playing, and a hunger for more senior Majors that stave off any thoughts of putting away his clubs.
“I’m highly competitive and what gets me up in the morning, especially on tournament days, is ‘can I beat the competition?’. That’s the driver,” he says.
“It’s the competitiveness more than it is the game of golf, to be honest. I love the competition. It’s good competition and in Europe as well and that’s the drive; the competitive urge to try to beat the competition, as they have with me. It really keeps me fired up.”
Yet while his schedule remains packed with tournaments, Montgomerie insists he is savouring each week in a way that he wasn’t able to earlier in his career.
“It’s trying to do as well in the Majors and trying to feel good about oneself, enjoy it – which I’m not sure I did that much, because it was a rollercoaster I was on, a conveyor belt really and I couldn’t get off it,” he says.
“Now I’m really beginning to smell the roses on the way round and enjoy it. And if you play well and win you enjoy it more.”
Montgomerie led Europe to Ryder Cup glory in 2010 (Source: Getty)
Montgomerie’s many achievements include playing on eight Ryder Cup winning teams and captaining Europe in a ninth, but the prospect of going for double figures in a second stint as skipper holds no appeal.
“That’s someone else’s job. I’ve spoken to [Berhard] Langer, I’ve spoken to [Ian] Woosnam, I’ve spoken to Sam Torrance – captains who were lucky enough to win, as I was,” he says.
“I think you put yourself under a huge amount of pressure. If you’re lucky enough to win, you walk away. Don’t put yourself up for a fall again. [United States captain] Tom Watson had a great win in 1993, came back in 2014 and lost and he’s seen as, unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him.
“It’s a 50-50 coin toss. I think once you’ve done it once it’s time to move on, say ‘job done’ and go elsewhere – and wish the next captain all success.”
See Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley, Paul Broadhurst and a host of senior stars in the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at London Golf Club, Ash, Kent; August 2-5. Admission free. Parking charge for charity.