Monty dons his 'Ryder Cup head' to beat Furyk

James Corrigan
Thursday 21 February 2008 01:00 GMT
Comments
(GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Put an American in front of Colin Montgomerie in the head-to-head format and he can usually summon those competitive juices. Yesterday, in Tucson, proved no exception as he defeated Jim Furyk in the first round of the WGC World Match Play.

The 44-year-old with a world ranking of 60 was given little chance against Furyk, the No 6. But with a display that must have brought back some familiarly bad memories for the home crowd, Mongomerie prevailed 3&2, thanks in no small part to a superlative putting performance.

"I've got my Ryder Cup head," revealed Montgomerie. "I really enjoyed the challenge of playing one of the top 10 and I would rank Jim higher than where he is right now. Next to Tiger [Woods] he is one of the best matchplayers there is. That's why it was such a great victory."

It was a timely win as Montgomerie needs a good showing in Arizona to qualify for the Masters. Montgomerie needs to break into the top 50 to make the field in April. Today he takes on Charles Howell.

Woods produced another incredible comeback by playing the final five holes in 5-under par to turn what looked like certain defeat into an unlikely victory against J B Holmes. "I just kept telling myself, even when I was three down, there's still a chance to win in regulation," Woods said.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in