| |
|
|
'Quite relaxed' Confident Montgomerie not stressing over major
Posted: Wednesday August 11, 1999 03:57 PM
MEDINAH, Ill. (Reuters) -- Colin Montgomerie, who admits to being one of the best golfers yet to win a major championship, is taking a different approach to this week's PGA Championship, the last major of the year. Montgomerie, brimming with confidence after his fourth victory of the year at the Scandinavian Masters on Sunday, said on Wednesday that he decided to take a more relaxed attitude toward the PGA here at Medinah Country Club. The 36-year-old Scot, the best player on the European PGA Tour for the past six years, did not even arrive at this suburb west of Chicago until Tuesday and he goes into Thursday's first round with only one day of practice on Medinah's No. 3 course. "I've never had only one practice round before a major championship," he admitted after an early morning tour of Medinah's 7,401-yard, par 72 layout. "Maybe it will change things," he said with a big smile. Montgomerie said he was "quite relaxed" and "very confident" after his nine-stroke victory in Sweden, which gave him four victories in one year for the first time in his career. "It's nice to come here playing well," he said. "Any course would suit me right now." However, Medinah No. 3 -- considered the longest course to ever host a major championship -- especially suits his game, which features long, accurate driving. "You have to hit the fairways here," he said. "Sometimes that requires a left-to-right shot and sometimes it requires a right-to-left shot. I can do both now easier than I could before. I look forward to tomorrow." In addition to the state of his game, there are other factors in his favor this week, Montgomerie said. "I've got a good draw and good [starting] times," he said. Montgomerie, who lost a playoff to Steve Elkington in the 1995 PGA Championship, said he liked the fact that he will play late on Thursday and then early on Friday. "You don't have a lot of time to sit around between rounds," he said. Montgomerie, who was joint 11th in this year's Masters and tied for 15th in both the U.S. and British Opens, also said he was delighted to be playing the first two rounds with Ernie Els, winner of two U.S. Opens, and Justin Leonard, winner of the 1997 British Open. "Ernie is so laid back and relaxed. He's a pleasure to play with. We chat a lot on the course about all sorts of things," he said of the South African. "And watching Justin putting sure can't hurt." Montgomerie was asked about the PGA Championship's reputation as the tournament where players "break through" to win their first major title, which has happened in 10 of the last 11 PGAs. "Well, [Davis] Love was overdue when he won [in 1997] and so was [Vijay] Singh [last year]," he said. "And you can say that about me." Montgomerie also said, however, that he thought major championships are harder to win since Tiger Woods has come on the scene. Woods is ranked second in the world behind David Duval by the slimmest of margins. "The majors are more difficult now that Tiger has entered them," Montgomerie said. "I know he's not number one right now but I classify him as such and if you can beat him, you will do well; you won't be far away." Montgomerie, who in the past has talked about how much he wants to win a major championship, also seemed to change his attitude about that. "If I win a major, it happens," he said. "If I don't, I won't lose any sleep over it when I retire. "I'll look back at what I've achieved and be positive about it. Because I haven't won a major doesn't mean I didn't have a good career or wasn't successful."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
