But Montgomerie headed for his home in Surrey this afternoon waiting to see if his level par total of 144 would be good enough to make the last two rounds.

The Scot birdied the last for a second round 71 but knew his chances could have gone when his 50ft eagle attempt agonisingly slipped by the hole.

Montgomerie’s resolve to play golf with more of a smile on his face had been sorely tested as he struggled to make any birdie putts on the Wentwood Hills course.

The 39-year-old believes new caddie Steve Rawlinson is just the man to keep him in the right frame of mind on the course and give his career, with his 40th birthday looming next month, some fresh impetus.

There was plenty of evidence to back up that belief in the early stages of yesterday’s first round at Celtic Manor, but when Montgomerie missed from two feet for birdie on the 18th, he was in mood to speak to waiting reporters or sign autographs for children waiting by the recorders’ hut.

Resuming on one over par this morning, Montgomerie looked in good spirits and gave Sunderland fan Rawlinson a club towel to clean the Scot’s clubs, even though he is a Leeds fan himself.

The former European number one then saved par with a superb bunker shot on the first, but signs of the strain to make the cut were not long in showing.

Players are driven in buggies to avoid the long walk between the first green and second tee, and spectators moving behind the tee as they struggled to catch up were politely asked by Montgomerie to stand still as he prepared to hit his drive.

Having subsequently missed the fairway and wasted no time in pitching back out onto the fairway on the par five, Montgomerie was not so polite with a photographer however, who was given shorter shrift for trying to get into position to take a photo.

“Be ready,” admonished Montgomerie. “I’m ready so you should be, okay.”

He made his par on the second but rather unfortunately dropped another shot on the next, what looked an ideal drive bouncing right into a fairway bunker.

The ball came to rest under the lip and Montgomerie’s attempted recovery flew over the back of the green, the offending club flung at the bag.

Birdies at the fifth and seventh saw Montgomerie to the turn in 35 and back to level par, but a bogey at the 10th could prove very costly.

Unable to reach the green in two on the 621-yard par five 11th, Montgomerie played two superb shots to within 50 yards of the green but hit a poor chip to 20 feet and missed the birdie attempt.

Montgomerie missed a great chance to get back to level par when he failed to convert a birdie chance on the 13th from six feet, but kept his fading hopes alive by holing from similar distance on the next to save par after escaping from a greenside bunker.

However, when birdie chances also went begging on the next three holes, Montgomerie knew he probably needed to eagle the last to survive, and his look of disbelief when the vital putt narrowly missed summed up his feelings of frustration.

“I don’t know how that missed, or how a few of them missed,” he said. “I played very well from tee to green but did not hole anything.”