Colin Montgomerie back at Gleneagles having breakfast with his 'nemesis'

It may have hurt like hell at the time but, 30 years on, Colin Montgomerie can now be jocular about Peter O’Malley denying him a Bell’s Scottish Open success on the King’s Course at Gleneagles.

“I’ve just had breakfast with my nemesis,” said the Scot of O’Malley, the pair being back at the Perthshire venue for this week’s Senior Open Presented by Rolex.

“He shares the same birthday as me - June 23 - but that’s the only thing we share right now (smiling).”

O’Malley covered the last five holes in seven-under in the final round to deny Montgomerie, who famously wore a Saltire sweater that day, a home-soil success.

Colin Montgomerie speaks to the media ahead of The Senior Open Presented by Rolex at Gleneagles. Picture: Phil Inglis/Getty Images.

“To beat me here was fantastic for him,” he added of the Australian’s incredible finish, “and it’s great for Gleneagles that we are both playing here again.”

Especially back on the King’s Course rather than the PGA Centenary Course, which staged the Ryder Cup in 2014 then the Solheim Cup five years later.

“I think it’s a great course for us to play. The King’s Course has a lot more character than the PGA Centenary Course down the road,” said Montgomerie, who is flying the Saltire on this occasion along with Sandy Lyle, Paul Lawrie, Euan McIntosh, Andrew Oldcorn and qualifier Scott Henderson.

“I think it’s in fantastic shape, they’ve done a great job and we all look forward to playing here this week.

“There’s not so many changes around the greens. There’s just a couple of new tees. They thought we were hitting the ball 40 yards further, so they thought they’d put the tee back 40 yards on 12 and 18.

“But the trouble is I’m hitting the ball the same distance as I did in 1992, which is not 40 yards further, so I’m in trouble and a number of us are trying to get over a couple of the saddles - one on 12 and the famous one on 18.

“Apart from that, the course is as we remember. There are good shots to be hit and you are rewarded for good shots whereas bad shots are penalised and that’s what we want.”