If larks have generally been the sort of thing in which Joe Gargery and Pip indulged, old chap, then Colin Montgomerie has been making their acquaintance in early morning Seattle this week.

Monty has had Great Expectations himself in numerous major championships now, none of which has come to fruition, and finally he has decided to adopt the work ethic in an attempt to rectify the situation. So when the gateman at the Sahalee Country Club has arrived at 6.30 a.m. to unlock the car-park, he has found Montgomerie drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and itching to get to the practice ground.

Hitherto the Scot has shunned practice, trusting to instinct and ingrained muscle memory rather than the quantity of balls beaten into the distance by the likes of Vijay Singh or the tinkering under the bonnet that has been Nick Faldo's stock in trade. Not any more though.

There comes a point where promise must be translated into performance. The soubriquet "best player never to have won a major", which sits so expectantly on the shoulders of a 20-something, begins to look suspiciously like underachievement when still hanging round the neck of a 35-year-old - particularly when the mantle, in some eyes, is already being passed on to the likes of Phil Mickelson and David Duval.

This week it has been up and off at first light. Like Faldo, it has been Montgomerie's putting which has been putting him under the hammer. At the Irish Open, for example, he shot a last-round 68 to go into a play-off - which he lost - yet took 34 putts.

It was much the same story at Loch Lomond, where he finished five shots behind the winner, Lee Westwood - another hoping for his first major here. The British Open at Birkdale, where Montgomerie took 70 putts in two rounds to miss the cut by a shot, was, he said, the final straw.

Poor putting has a knock-on effect, because, with confidence low, the pressure to put approach shots nearer the hole increases. Montgomerie has not been on his A-game tee to green either. So he went to an expert, the American Dave Pelz, who he hopes has tightened up the mechanics of his stroke.

"I really regret not asking a specialist before," Montgomerie admitted.

The success or otherwise of this particular diversion will be tested on this demanding course over the next four days, but there is no question that the longer a player of Montgomerie's quality goes without taking a major title, the harder it becomes to make the breakthrough.

There are things in his favour this week though. He has never made a secret of the fact he believes his essential qualities of straightness and control are more suited to winning in America than on the links courses of home, and three times, when Ernie Els won his two US Opens and Steve Elkington took the 1995 PGA, he has come desperately close to success, twice losing in a play-off.

The USPGA is a championship that has lent itself to first-time major winners, with Nick Price, in 1994, the only success in the last 13 tournaments (including Price's own first win two years previously) that was not a maiden at this level. But Montgomerie's record in his half-dozen USPGAs to date has been too good for him not to go into his seventh with confidence.

Only twice has he failed to make the cut, and of his 20 rounds seven have been in the sixties - including all four in the 1995 birdiefest at the Riviera Club, when his last round 65 put him into the play-off with Elkington.

Of those who have played in more than a single USPGA, Monty's stroke average of 70.9 shots per round is bettered only by Elkington (70.79) and Lee Janzen (70.71), both major winners, and Jeff Maggert (70.82) and Mickelson (70.39), who are not.

Montgomerie will be helped this week by a new piece of Calloway technology, the prototype Steelhead range of woods. But like many other players, he will be leaving his driver in the boot and carrying a five-wood instead.

He is hoping, too, the heckling that has blighted his recent visits to the States is a thing of the past. But on Tuesday Tiger Woods, without being specific, said that some youngsters in the gallery had called him things on the course that should not be said anywhere, period. He did confess though to getting a kick from hearing his name chanted, and as such was eternally grateful that his father called him Tiger and not Richard. "I'd hate to be called Dick for 18 holes."

After what has preceded, for Montgomerie that would almost constitute a term of endearment.

Lee Westwood does intend using his driver. He has fast become been one of the straightest hitters with it and if he can slot into a groove the 25-year-old could become the first European-born winner of the title since Tommy Armour in 1930.

Yes, it is that long, and once again the main attention is elsewhere. Mostly on O'Meara's attempt to become only the second player to win three majors in a season. Ben Hogan in 1953 stands alone in that regard. Mark O'Meara stands on the threshold of golfing history here and says: "I'm going to give it all I've got."

"It would be a tremendous honour, but it's a tremendous honour just to have the opportunity," said O'Meara. "Anything is possible.

"There are so many fine players now, but I am going to try for it - there's no reason why not to. People remember who wins."