Montgomerie tipped to join European Senior Tour

ANDY Stubbs, the managing director of the European Senior Tour, is confident Colin Montgomerie will play on the circuit when he turns 50 in three years' time and believes Bernhard Langer's success in the Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie will have fuelled the Scot's thirst for success beyond the regular Tour.

Montgomerie has always been somewhat lukewarm on the subject of senior golf but Stubbs feels watching the likes of Langer, his former Ryder Cup team-mate winning an over-50s major, will influence the 47-year-old as he edges closer to becoming eligible for a new chapter in his career.

Asked if he was expecting to have Montgomerie on board eventually, Stubbs said: "Anyone that's had a record in major championship history or Ryder Cup captaincy or participation, yes. (Jack] Nicklaus was the one that said he would never play senior golf, and he did. He didn't play too many; he picked and chose his events. I think Colin will do the same."

Stubbs believes the majors in particular will be attractive to Montgomerie but is hoping the paths taken by the likes of Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam since they turned 50 will have shown the current Ryder Cup captain that the ever-expanding European circuit can provide a good level of competition on his own doorstep as opposed to moving to America, as Langer has done, to play on the Champions Tour.

"My instinct is that Colin would not be attracted by that (the Champions Tour]," he added. "Ian and Sam both had a little go at that, but they don't enjoy going to their room at seven at night watching TV; they would rather be in the bar having a cocktail or a fizzy water. The guys (on the European Senior Tour] like each other's company. You've witnessed it around Ryder Cups, it's a big family. I don't think Colin will go to America and mix particularly well. I think he's likely to want to play in Europe."

Stubbs is in Rome today hoping to sign a contract for a new tournament in October. If successful, the 2010 schedule will have been increased to 20 in the space of 12 months. "That would be five more events from last year in the deepest recession anyone can remember and it's a compliment to those guys out there that play on this tour," he said.

"My job is to make sure that all of our tournaments in different parts of the world become bigger and better and I think we will attract him (Montgomerie] to play a handful of events. I think Ian and Sam are your benchmark. They don't play all the tournaments, probably 12-15 a year, but they play enough that they enjoy," he said.

Langer's win at Carnoustie was watched by approximately 33,000 fans over the course of the week. That was almost 10,000 down on the record figure for the event at Troon in 2008, but such a drop was expected by both the European Senior Tour and R&A on the back of an Open Championship at St Andrews the previous week.

What was lost on one hand was definitely gained on the other as Langer and his fellow competitors heaped praise on the Angus course "The response from the players here has been unbelievable. The golf course played exceptionally well and the condition of it is unbelievable," noted Stubbs.

Next year's event is at Walton Heath, with a return to Scotland likely in 2012 as part of a strategy in place with EventScotland. Stubbs played down speculation that St Andrews was set to stage a Senior Open in the near future, but is hopeful that might happen one day. "We are actively talking about 2012, 13, 14 and 15 but we are not even talking about St Andrews being part of that run," he said.

"The R&A have agreed that the ladies [British Open] will go there at some time in the future and, likewise, we would like to put our hat in the ring.

"Once The Open Championship knows what it's doing, we will then be able to position ourselves to when we can consider when we are going there. As long as there's uncertainty, we'll just be in the stack and wait our turn. It's anything but simple, when you have Amateur Championships and Walker Cups to throw in, as well as the Solheim Cup, depending what happens with that. There's all that to consider as well as a Ryder Cup in 2014 and the Commonwealth Games the same year."