Carnoustie's latest casualty Monty shoots 76, says he's out of contention at British Click here for more on this story Posted: Friday July 16, 1999 09:23 AM   He came in with confidence, but with a 150 through the first two rounds Colin Montgomerie has become just a spectator. AP CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (Reuters) -- Colin Montgomerie wrote off his British Open chances on Friday after he slumped to a disappointing 76 in the second round. Coming after his encouraging first round 74, it was a huge disappointment for the Scot who just cannot get it right for the big ones. "I'm out of the tournament now, I'll just have to look forward to the U.S. PGA," he said. Montgomerie's 8 over total will probably keep him on the right side of the halfway cut -- he has missed five of the last seven British Open cuts -- but his long wait for a first victory in a major must continue. Much as he tries to play it down, the failure is like a running sore. Europe's number one for the last six years came into the championship at the very top of his game having won the Loch Lomond Invitational last Saturday with a final round 64. He said it enabled him to tee off in a more relaxed mood than for many years and, as always, he was being touted as a real challenger. Bookmakers had him in a pack behind Tiger Woods and David Duval and elevated him to second favourite behind Woods after Thursday's round. "Hopefully I can remain as relaxed over the next three days," he said at the time. A day later, he was back to his familiar grumpy self and refused to speak to the world's media after his round. His only comments came at the scorers' tent when he said he failed to capitalize on a great early draw. "The wind didn't spring up until the ninth hole and by then I was 3 over and struggling," he said. "I didn't play well and I got no luck. These things together add up to a 76. "That last putt summed it up," he said of the long birdie attempt that missed by a whisker on the 18th green. "It was in, it just had to get there and it was in. It got there and it broke left and I don't know how it did. "I'm just playing for numbers now unfortunately and I was very disappointed with today's performance."   Related information Stories Colin Montgomerie's British Open Scorecard Monty delighted with opening-round 74 Expectations high for Monty after Loch Lomond win Multimedia Click here for the latest audio and video Search our site Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV. Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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