I blew it, says Montgomerie
Colin Montgomerie admitted “I blew it” after squandering a stunning start to his second round of the Celtic Manor Wales Open.
Montgomerie was five under par after seven holes on a Roman Road course which has already yielded one score of 60 and two 61s so far this week.
But the eight-time European number one then bogeyed three of his next eight holes and was forced to settle for a 66 and nine under par halfway total of 129.
That left the 42-year-old Scot five shots behind leader Robert Karlsson of Sweden, and hugely frustrated.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Montgomerie, who has never won a tournament in Wales.
“Five under after seven was a great start and I blew it really to only finish three under from there.
“I had a perfect chance to go forward and open a gap but I have come back to the pack.
“The last month my game has been 50% and it’s now 70% so it’s going in the right direction at least, but it’s not there yet, nowhere near.
“All I can do is try to improve and I am, but not fast enough. I’m very impatient like most people. I’m hitting the fairways okay but my chipping and putting is not as good as it should be.”
Montgomerie was particularly frustrated by his bogey on the par five 16th, a 529-yard par five easily within reach for the majority of the field.
“I’m very disappointed, especially with 16,” he added. “Everyone on the leaderboard is making birdie there and I made bogey so there’s two or three shots gone. I got an unlucky lie in the bunker and made a mess of it from there.”
Karlsson got off to a near-identical start to Montgomerie and was also five under after seven, but also matched the Scot's bogey on the eighth and carded just two birdies and one bogey on the back nine.
The Monaco-based 36-year-old has not won on the European Tour since his fifth tournament victory in 2002, but ended the day four shots clear of first-round pacesetter Phillip Archer, Paul Broadhurst and Simon Dyson.
“Last year I played very well for long periods but my putting was terrible,” admitted Karlsson, who retained his card in 2004 by just £9.39 after finishing 116th on the Order of Merit.
“I’ve worked a lot on the mental side of the game and tried to enjoy it more out on the course. Definitely before I would get hot under the collar. I would never be able to play so many weeks in a row (this is his sixth) and keep it up.
“Weeks like the BMW Championship and Irish Open are tough, you spend a long time sitting around the locker room and to be able to relax on and off the course is vital.
“A few years ago I could not stand to play more than three weeks in a row. I couldn’t do it. I was too tough on myself on and off the course.”
Archer of course was the man who came agonisingly close to the first 59 on the European Tour in the first round, when his birdie putt on the 18th lipped out.
Not surprisingly he struggled to follow that up with another low score and carded a 68 to finish alongside Yorkshire’s Dyson (62) and Broadhurst, who boosted his chances of a Ryder Cup place with a second consecutive 64.
Dyson’s 62 was not the lowest round of the day, however, Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima carding a 61 after also threatening to break the magical 60 barrier.
Lima raced to the turn in just 30 shots and then birdied the 12th and 13th, holing a bunker shot on the latter to stand seven under for the round with five holes remaining.
The French-born 24-year-old then holed from 30ft for another birdie on the 14th but crucially three-putted the next for bogey when his birdie putt caught the edge of the hole and span four feet away.
“I was thinking about 59 or even 58 because my game was perfect today,” he admitted.
“I was joking with my caddy about it but I was still concentrating on my game and playing shot by shot.
“Even after the mistake at 15 I was thinking about an eagle on the par five and more birdies but I am happy with eight under.
“I played well here last year and finished joint eighth. It’s very short and I can carry all the bunkers and there are a lot of short par fours which are easy for me.”
Attention then switched to Scotland’s Gary Orr who, after starting on the 10th, had six birdies in a row from the 12th to cover the back nine in just 28 shots.
Another birdie on the first raised real hopes of a 59 but the 39-year-old from Helensburgh three-putted the par-five third for par and then bogeyed the fourth and eventually signed for a 63.
The biggest name to miss the cut was US Open champion Michael Campbell, but he was not too concerned less than two weeks before the defence of his title at Winged Foot.
The New Zealander at least added a 66 to his opening 75 and said: “I knew it was a fairly hopeless task after the first round so I decided to use it as practice for the US Open because I won’t play competitively before then.
“It was not ideal because the greens are so much slower here than they will be in America but it was still nice to make a few birdies.”
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez, Nick Dougherty and Paul McGinley - back in action a fortnight after knee surgery – all missed the cut which fell at one under.
Michael Hoey was best of the Irish on six under par after shooting a one under round of 68. David Higgins and Peter Lawrie are two shots further back, while Graeme McDowell is on three under par.
Gary Murphy, Damien McGrane and McGinley all missed the cut.
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