Monty sets the pace
Colin Montgomerie carried on from where he left off on Sunday to set the pace in the American Express Championship in San Francisco.
Fresh from his first victory in 19 months in the Dunhill Links Championship, Montgomerie was five under par after 11 holes of his opening round of the £4.2million event at Harding Park.
World number one Tiger Woods – seeking his 11th victory in 21 WGC events – was one shot behind with Welshman Bradley Dredge a further stroke back in a share of third.
Montgomerie admitted part of him wanted to “do a Freddie Flintoff” to celebrate his victory rather than make the long journey to the west coast of America, but there were certainly no sign of over-indulgence on the course.
Starting on the 10th, the seven-time European number one took advantage of one of only two par fives on the course with an opening birdie, and picked up another shot on the 12th.
His round really sparked into life just before the turn however, a birdie from seven feet on the 16th followed by another on the par three 17th where his tee shot finished just inches from the hole.
Another superb iron shot into the signature 18th made it three birdies in a row and took the 42-year-old Scot into the outright lead.
Perhaps equally significantly, it also took Montgomerie five shots clear of his nearest rival for an eighth money list title, New Zealand’s Michael Campbell.
Campbell, the US Open champion, has an £85,000 lead over Montgomerie but was only level par for his first 13 holes.
Woods was showing no signs of the rib injury he suffered during the Presidents Cup a fortnight ago, the world number one opening with a birdie on the 10th and picking up three more to lie four under with four to play.
The Open champion – who pushed Montgomerie into second at St Andrews – had predicted the extensively renovated municipal course could yield some low scores if the wind did not blow and that looked like being the case.
Australian Richard Green showed what was was possible with a birdie on the 10th followed by a hole-in-one on the 11th, the left-hander holing a five-iron from 194 yards.
It was not proving so easy for Sheffield’s Neil Cheetham however, who was six over par after 12 holes.
Cheetham, ranked 430 places below playing partner and world number three Phil Mickelson, needs a good finish here to try to keep his Eropean Tour card – he currently lies 138th on the Order of Merit.
But after opening with two pars, and out-driving Mickelson on the first, a double bogey on the third was followed by four more dropped shots to leave him 70th of the 71-strong field.
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