The Scot admitted on Wednesday that his place was still in doubt with several lucrative events still to come, including the USPGA Championship, which could see him slip further down the table.

Such a scenario has partly prompted Montgomerie to play four of the last five counting events in order to secure his place and save captain Sam Torrance from using up one of his two precious wild cards.

But his chances of doing Torrance such a favour looked to have suffered a massive blow with two bogeys in his first three holes at Barseback this morning.

Starting on the 10th Montgomerie’s approach found a greenside bunker and after blasting out well from an awkward lie close to the lip, he missed from four feet to save par.

Worse was to come on the par five 12th when, having hit a superb drive down the middle of the fairway, his attempt to go for the green over the corner of the dogleg saw his ball clip the top of a tree and drop down into heavy rough under the pine trees.

From there he could only chip out sideways and the resulting six left him two over par after three holes.

With France’s Gregory Havret in the first group out racing to the turn in 32 to be five under par, Montgomerie was incredibly seven shots off the lead before a remarkable run propelled him up the leaderboard.

Birdies at the 14th and 15th were followed by an eagle at the 16th and a hat-trick of birdies from the 18th before finishing with a bonus birdie from 30 feet on the ninth to card a superb six under par 66.

That was enough for a share of the lead with Denmark’s Soren Hansen while playing partner Lee Westwood also made a welcome return to form with a 67 to be one off the pace alongside Open runner-up Niclas Fasth and France’s Gregory Havret.

"I don’t think I’ll be leading at the end of the day though," said Montgomerie who won over this course two years ago. "The conditions are very good for low scoring but it’s nice to have my name on the leaderboard.

"After three holes I was two over par and it was not looking good but walking to the 13th I just said 'It’s a good tournament to win from here!'"

Jesper Parnevik, the third member of Montgomerie’s group which attracted a large gallery drawn from the massive crowd, had to birdie the final hole for a one under par 71 after running up a costly double bogey on the seventh.

Meanwhile Ian Woosnam went one better on his return to the European Tour after his Open mis-adventures after being forced to abandon plans to use a specially constructed driver amid questions over its legality.