“Majors have not slipped me by yet,” insists Montgomerie. “I am as ambitious as ever, possibly more so since the middle of this year, and I want to keep going.”

The 41-year-old Scot has been trying and failing to capture majors since 1988, the year he failed to qualify for the British Open won by Seve Ballesteros at Lytham.

He was third on his debut in the 1992 US Open at Pebble Beach, lost a play-off against Ernie Els and Loren Roberts at the same event two years later, then the following season was denied in the US PGA only by a 25-foot birdie putt from Australian Steve Elkington.

Another near-miss at the US Open came in 1997 – Els beat him by a stroke – but he has not had a top-10 finish in any of the four biggest events on the golf calendar since the turn of the century.

The suspicion was that his chance had come and gone, but he got into the hunt for the British Open at Troon in July before fading on the final afternoon.

“There are not many opportunities left, but there will be others,” vowed Montgomerie. “I will have a couple of goes, I think, a couple of contending majors left in me and let’s hope one of them works out.”

Montgomerie needed a wild card to get into his seventh successive Ryder Cup, but it came after Bernhard Langer, likely to pick him anyway, heard all his leading players say they wanted him alongside them.

Now that same “player power” could convince Montgomerie to go for the next Ryder Cup at the K Club near Dublin in 2006 rather than think about captaining the side there.

“I think that is a Christmas decision,” he added last night after finishing birdie-eagle in the first round of The Heritage at Woburn.

Tired just like the other three members of the side playing this week - Padraig Harrington, David Howell and Ian Poulter – that impressive finish to his round still brought only a one-under 71.

Montgomerie was due to resume today four behind leaders - Ireland's Graeme McDowell, Nick O’Hern and Jose Manuel Lara - but still in the hunt not just for the title, but also a climb into the top 20 of the European Order of Merit, which would put him into next week’s American Express at Mount Juliet in Co Kilkenny. For that he has to finish 20th at worst on Sunday.

Howell also opened with a 71 yesterday, while Harrington, who needs a top-eight finish to qualify for the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth in three weeks’ time, had a 72 and Poulter a 77 in which he admits his mind and body were willing, but not able.

Meanwhile, a bizarre situation has arisen where Montgomerie’s fellow Scots Alastair Forsyth and Stephen Gallacher do not yet know whether they need to fly to Malaysia next week to try to qualify for golf’s World Cup.

Scotland would be one of the 18 exempt nations for Seville in November if Montgomerie was available, but he is playing in America that week and with nobody else in the world’s top 100 they are no longer exempt.

That could change with stars like Fiji’s Vijay Singh, Canadian Mike Weir, Zimbabwe’s Nick Price and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark doubtful starters, but that may not be known before the start of the qualifying tournament.

Scott Drummond is the next highest-ranked player at 115th, but he is playing in the American Express World Championship and so Forsyth and Gallacher are the two with the dilemma of whether to make the trip to the Far East.

They hope to find out if it is necessary before flying. If Scotland become exempt again it would be Drummond and Forsyth taking part in Spain, but if Forysth and Gallacher compete in the qualifier and come through it would mean Volvo PGA champion Drummond misses out on a World Cup debut.

Wales are also non-exempt at present, but the expected withdrawals make it almost certain that Phillip Price and Bradley Dredge will go straight into the starting line-up in Seville.