Heavy rain puts Monty home title bid on hold

Bad weather delayed the start of the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond by at least an hour this morning and threatened to put the whole tournament way behind the clock.

Parts of the picturesque course were already under water due to an overnight downpour and it was still raining when the first group of Simon Wakefield, David Lynn and Anton Haig were due to tee off at 7.30am.

Tournament officials announced no play would be possible before

8.30am and warned the hold-up could be much longer if the "severe" weather forecast proved correct.

Colin Montgomerie, one of the stars kept waiting, plans to carry on playing on the European Tour for another seven years, by which time he expects to have captained the Ryder Cup team.

Monty's record eighth order of merit title in 2005 means he has a full exemption until 2015; the year after he is widely tipped to lead Europe against the United States at Gleneagles.

The 45-year-old Scot, who dropped out of the world's top 100 at the start of last month for the first time since 1990, said: "I plan on getting back into the top 50 by the end of the year and then, hopefully, progress from there.

"There's no reason why not. I'm exempt on this tour until I'm 52 and then I think that will do me and I'll stop.