Monty's Masters bid hangs on Classic defence
Colin Montgomerie’s bid to play in next month’s Masters has taken him to the Far East where he hopes a successful defence of his TCL Classic title will provide the necessary boost to qualify for the first major of the year.
The Scot is currently 54th in the world and he needs to be in the top 50 by March 28 if he is to play at Augusta.
Second place at the Yalong Bay Golf Club in the city of Sanya in the Chinese province of Hainan Island would be enough to lift him into the top 50 and gain him entry into next week’s Players Championship, dubbed the fifth major, in America.
With the cut-off for Masters qualification falling immediately after that event he would then be more certain than not to be in the field for Augusta.
The Ryder Cup star has gradually been working his way back up the rankings after a disastrous 2004 and with two top-five finishes in three starts on the European Tour so far, Montgomerie is feeling confident.
He puts his change in fortune down to a conscious decision he made to change his game plan.
“I decided to hit more fairways than I used to,” was the seven-time European number one’s simple explanation.
“I spent the last three years missing the fairways but now I’m more accurate in getting onto the fairways.
“What I’ve been doing is better and I’m performing better than expected.”
Montgomerie won the inaugural TCL Classic in 2002 when the event, staged solely by the Asian Tour, was held in Shenzhen, southern China.
Having skipped a year the tournament is now a co-sanctioned event with the European Tour and the Scot is looking forward to defending his title against a strong field which includes his victorious Ryder Cup team-mates Paul Casey and Paul McGinley, the 2006 European captain Ian Woosnam and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.
“I always enjoy coming to this part of the world and I obviously enjoy winning. I’m glad that TCL has come back,” he said.
“The temperature is warmer and exactly how I like it and I know I’m going to have a super week here.”
China’s Lian-Wei Zhang is hoping to put on a good performance in front of a home crowd.
Zhang became the first Chinese to win on the European Tour by claiming the Caltex Masters title in January 2003 but he yet to reproduce that kind of form on a regular basis.
His best performance on the tour since winning in Singapore was joint fifth in the BMW Open in Shanghai last year and he hopes home advantage will benefit him again.
“I am looking forward to this competition. I’ve been waiting for two years,” said Zhang, who last year also became the first Chinese national to play in the Masters after a special invitation from the committee at Augusta National.
“I would also like to thank Monty for coming to Sanya as he is the defending champion of the TCL Classic and he has developed many golf courses in China, and I would like to thank him for doing so much for golf in China.”
