Monty believes new caddie could be key

Published on Wednesday 17 July 2002 01:00

COLIN MONTGOMERIE today revealed his secret weapon as he bids to get the home galleries cheering again in the Open Championship.

The big Scot, who tied for 13th at Royal Lytham 12 months ago after leading at the halfway stage, believes caddie Andy Prodger can help him be a contender again at Muirfield this week.

Prodger caddied for Nick Faldo when the Englishman won the first of his two Opens over the East Lothian links in 1987 and has already been using that experience to point his latest boss in the right direction.

"It’s nice to have a caddie who has won Majors and even nicer to have someone who has achieved that feat over this course," said Monty, revealing that he had lost two-and-a-half stones over the past year after being put on a fitness programme in a bid to cure his back trouble.

"When I was out practising last night it was amazing to see Andy plotting his way around as if he was with Nick Faldo in 1987. He was telling me the places to go and not to go. You can’t put the ball in the right position all the time and Andy was recalling what Nick had done when he had got out of position at certain holes."

After opening with rounds of 65 and 70, Monty reckoned he had allowed a chance to claim a first Major win slip from his grasp at Lytham, where the Claret Jug went instead to David Duval.

But, with the backing of a crowd which should be even more behind him this week, the former European No.1 believes he can get in the shake up once again.

"Last year’s Open was an opportunity missed, very much so," he said. "I know that I’m not going to get many opportunities of winning Majors and that was one which was definitely missed.

"With Tiger Woods not performing as well as he can, it was an opportunity for everyone and it was David Duval who ended up taking that chance.

"This week we’ve got to hope that Tiger doesn’t perform again and that we have another opportunity. If that door opens to me again, then hopefully I can walk through it this time.

"However, if Tiger plays his best and I play my best, then he’ll win." Asked if that would be the case nine times out of ten, Monty added: "Yes, probably."

Twelve months ago, Monty, who got off to a flying start as he birdied the first two holes, received tremendous backing from the crowds at Lytham.

"My start spurred me on and when I got the six-under after ten everything was going really well," he said.

"Hopefully, with this week’s event being held north of the Border, I’ll have even more support."

Before arriving at the course this week, Monty had expressed fears that he believed Muirfield might become obsolete as an Open venue due to the fact it wasn’t long when set alongside current championship course standards.

But it has taken him just one full practice round to change that view, saying: "This is the best Open course - and we have a lot of good ones. The course is immaculate and deserves to be rated as one of the top five in the world."

"It’s ten years since I’ve played here and I was worried it might be too short. But it’s amply long due to the fact there are holes where you need to hit an iron off tee to keep the ball in fairway.

"They’ve done that particularly well at the first. The tee shot there is fearsome, though the hole does open up for the second shot."

Asked if Woods having the driver taken out of his hands at some holes would help the other players, Monty added: "Let’s hope so but we were all saying that anyone could win at St Andrews two years ago due to that and he won by eight shots."

In 1992, when Faldo also won, Monty was one of the pre-tournament favourites, having gone into the event bang in form only to miss the cut.

This time around he’s a 40-1 shot but the Scot is happy to be an underdog. "Not being seen as one of the favourites can be a benefit sometimes," he said. "I also have ten years more experience than the last Open here and that will hopefully stand me in good stead."

AMERICAN Kenny Perry today withdrew from this week’s event, with his place going to English professional Tom Whitehouse.

The Maxstoke Park professional shot two rounds of 68 in the qualifying at North Berwick before missing out in a play-off but has now got into the field.