Monty: Talent makes it wide open

14 April 2012

Colin Montgomerie today claimed the 133rd Open Championship could produce another surprise winner like 750-1 long shot Ben Curtis.

Curtis was the rookie American ranked 396th in the world and playing in only his 16th professional tournament who came out of nowhere to claim the Claret Jug at Royal St George's.

Now Curtis has returned to these shores to defend the trophy at Royal Troon near Prestwick on the west coast of Scotland.

But Montgomerie, the former European No1 still chasing his own maiden major title at the age of 41, insisted that most of the 156-player field will have a chance of taking the season's third major.

"Maybe a few years ago only the best 25 could win," he said. "Now there's 50 to 100 who could win. People are practising harder, they're getting fitter and mentally tougher and I think that's aiding their scores.

"We couldn't afford for Tiger Woods to come down to our level. We had to attain his and a lot of people have done that."

The statistics support Montgomerie's point. In the last five years 60 per cent of the players finishing in the top five, or tied for fifth, have started the championship at 100-1 or over with the bookies. Indeed, 42 per cent have started at prices of 125-1 and above.

A timely reminder of what a fickle sport golf can be came at Loch Lomond where Frenchman Thomas Levet shot a back nine of 29 in a final round of 63 for a one-shot victory over Michael Campbell of New Zealand.

Why should it be so surprising that a two-time winner on the European Tour should beat a quality field that included world No2 Ernie Els and Masters champion Phil Mickelson?

Because Levet had missed the cut in two of his last three tournaments and had pulled out of two rounds of Open qualifying at Sunningdale on Monday last week because he was so tired his legs started shaking after 18 holes.

Not only that, but the game was beginning to get to him. Levet explained: "I played awful in the European Open and I was ready to pack everything and go on holiday.

"Like Thomas Bjorn I had demons in my head. But it wasn't just demons, it was spiders and ghosts too."

The name Levet may be familiar. Indeed, he lost to Els in a play-off for the Open Championship at Muirfield in 2002.

Now he is back in The Open, his win having clinched the last place at Troon. He might be worth an each-way flutter.

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Monty: Talent makes it wide open

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