Monty to miss Irish Open

Colin Montgomerie has blamed an exhausting recent schedule as the main reason for his withdrawal from next week's Murphy's Irish Open at Ballybunion. The bombshell news was delivered yesterday morning - just hours after the Scot laboured to a disappointing 46th place finish in the US Open - and was communicated to the tournament organisers through IMG, who organise his affairs.

His manager, Guy Kinnings, said that the decision to withdraw had "not been taken lightly." However, Europe's number one player for the past seven years is of the opinion that missing out on the trip to north Kerry will be beneficial to his physical and mental recuperation in time for next month's British Open at St Andrews.

In a letter faxed to the Irish Open organisers, Kinnings explained that an "exhausting trip to the States for the US Open and many weeks of tournament play" had taken its toll on Montgomerie, a two-time winner of the Irish Open.

Coming on top of the absence of Ryder Cup players Lee Westwood and Andrew Coltart, the withdrawal of Montgomerie is an especially big blow. Still, the tournament organisers took his withdrawal on the chin. "Colin has been a tremendous supporter of the Irish Open down the years and we're very sorry that reasons of fatigue have brought about this situation," said tournament consultant Paddy Rossi.

Montgomerie has been the dominant figure in the Irish Open in the past four years. He won successive titles at Druids Glen in 1996 and 1997, and was only denied a hat-trick of championships when losing to David Carter in a play-off in 1998. Last year, he finished in seventh position behind eventual champion Sergio Garcia, who will be defending his title.

While Montgomerie's defection is obviously a massive blow, the Irish Open organisers were focusing on some of the more positive performances to come out of the US Open at Pebble Beach. "Certainly one of the more positive factors is how well Padraig Harrington is playing at the moment - it always helps the event when we have an Irish player in form and capable of challenging for the title," insisted Rossi.

In fact, five players who secured top-15 finishes in California will be coming to Ballybunion: Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who finished tied-second, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen and Jose Maria Olazabal. Coincidentally, Olazabal was one of the last players to enter before last Thursday's deadline.

Under a new category created by the European Tour, Tiger Woods - as winner of the US Open - could also request a place in the field. Such a scenario, though, is extremely unlikely as the world number one meticulously maps out his tournament schedule up to a year in advance. However, Woods - as well as world number two David Duval - will be playing in Ireland in advance of the British Open at St Andrews when he competes in the J P McManus Pro-Am at Limerick on July 10th-11th.

A number of Irish professionals are also waiting anxiously for the possibility of receiving late invitations to play in the Irish Open, particularly tour rookie Gary Murphy, who doesn't get into the field by right of his qualifying school card, and Kerry native David Higgins, who recently won his first title on the European Challenge Tour. The organisers have already invited five Irishmen - Philip Walton, Richard Coughlan, Graham Spring, Sean Quinlivan and Paddy Gribben.

While Murphy waits on a possible invitation to the Ballybunion field, he attempts to continue his steady progress in his rookie year by playing in this week's Compaq European Grand Prix at Slaley Hall. Murphy is one of three Irishmen in the field. Darren Clarke, like Monty a very disappointed man after his US Open performance, has decided to go ahead and play in this week's event while Philip Walton has received a sponsor's invitation.