Montgomerie proves he has what it takes

The fallacy has persisted for some time that Colin Montgomerie simply can't play links golf, but he has now put an end to such nonsense.

Yesterday, in the first round of the 130th British Open, on a Royal Lytham & St Annes course that is as fine a test of golf as can be found anywhere, no one showed as much craft or displayed quite the same mental fortitude as the Scot in conquering its nuances.

Given his past history in the championship, in which he had failed to break 70 in 11 previous first rounds, and missed the cut in five, there may have been a valid case for Monty including a claymore as an extra club, not to fell the Tiger but to use in the rough that is everywhere on this course.

Such an implement, though, wasn't required as Montgomerie was able to rely on more traditional golfing tools to fashion out a round of six-under-par 65, which was three shots better than anyone else managed.

Now comes the hard part - staying there. "All this is just a good start, nothing more," remarked Montgomerie, sounding like an eminently sensible fellow.

Such caution is well-merited. As many a player discovered yesterday, it takes no more than a moment's loss of concentration, or even one bad bounce, to pay a heavy price.

The ability to run up high numbers here on this formidable test of golf is even easier than going into a high-street jewellers with a chargecard. And Montgomerie, who has led in majors before but always walked away empty-handed, knows the foolhardiness of getting ahead of one's self.

"I never dream of leading the Open on a Thursday, only on Sundays," he added. What he did admit, however, is that his psyche will change. In the past, he has always had to play catch-up in a British Open, and without success.

"One thing I don't want to do is to defend anything . . . what I have to continue to do is hit the fairways, hit the greens, and give myself chances."

The role of chief pursuers after the opening 18-holes has fallen to Finland's Mikko Ilonen, on 68, who first showed a love for links golf in winning the 1999 West of Ireland amateur title before annexing the British Amateur last year, and a pair of Americans, Brad Faxon and Chris DiMarco.

Paul McGinley, meanwhile, was among those in a 16-man logjam on the 69 mark, fully aware that they are very much in the thick of the hunt. Even Tiger Woods, who had a 71 that featured none of the dramatics of the leader's round, wasn't unduly concerned that he will start the second round six shots adrift.

"I grinded my way around and I haven't put myself out of the tournament. At least I kept myself in there," said the world number one.

But Retief Goosen's hopes of adding the British Open to the US Open he won last month lessened appreciably when he included three bogeys and a double-bogey in his last five holes for a 74.

On a dry day, with a wind that kept the flags atop the grandstands fluttering but in no danger of taking flight, the main ingredient in formulating a good score was staying on the fairway and taking any decent bounces that came, just as Jeff Maggert did when holing out with a 200-yard six-iron shot at the sixth for albatross.

So it was an indication of the new, calmer Darren Clarke that has been revealed in recent weeks that even a double-bogey five at the first hole didn't bring any dark clouds around his head.

"Not the start I had planned by any means," agreed Clarke. On the first, his six-iron tee-shot was pushed into the right-hand bunker where it plugged under the lip. It took him two shots to extricate the ball out of the trap but he played very well thereafter, dropping just one further shot - on the 12th - while also picking up four birdies for a 70. Indeed, Clarke was the only player in the field who managed to birdie both the 17th and 18th holes - where he holed from 20 feet and 15 feet respectively.

"I'm playing really well. I had great control of the ball flight all day but, with links golf, if you miss one shot at the wrong time, at the wrong place, you pay a penalty. And that is what happened me at the first."

Montgomerie, meanwhile, had no such penal bounces in a round that started with back-to-back birdies. "A real bonus," was his observation of that start, but even better things lay ahead.

On the sixth, after his six-iron approach ran through the green, he chipped in for eagle, and then finished with birdies on the eighth and ninth to turn in 30 strokes.

His third successive birdie came at the 10th where he rammed in a 30-footer and his only blemish came at the 14th when three-putting from 40 feet, watching Fred Couples take four to escape from a bunker causing a lapse in concentration.

What really made Montgomerie's round, though, was his ability to make single putts for pars on the 15th, 16th and 17th before holing a 40-footer for birdie on the last. In all, he had just 24 putts, which was not like Montgomerie at all.

As he showed in capturing the Murphy's Irish Open earlier this month, he is a man who likes to lead from the front. "It always takes two to beat you when you are one ahead," he remarked with some logic.

That was the Irish Open; this is the British Open. It is a major test of his character. And there are many chasing players intent on making it so.