Colin Montgomerie may have already secured his status as the 2014 European Senior Tour Number One, but the Scot is determined to end a magnificent season in style at the MCB Tour Championship in Mauritius.
The 2010 European Ryder Cup Captain finished sixth in his debut in the tournament last year and has enjoyed a superb 12 months in the interim, winning both the US Senior PGA Championship, the US Senior Open, as well as the Travis Perkins Masters and Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior).
That means he starts the Senior Tour’s season-finale with an unassailable €384,686 lead over his nearest rival, Canadian Rick Gibson, in the Order of Merit, ensuring on Sunday afternoon he will add the John Jacobs Trophy to the record eight Harry Vardon Trophies he won on The European Tour.
Montgomerie watched Paul Wesselingh pick up both the tournament silverware and the John Jacobs Trophy last year, and he has designs on his double of his own this week at Constance Belle Mare Plage, where he is joined in the field by fellow former Ryder Cup Captains Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam.
“The weather at home is not good right now, so to come down here to Mauritius, where it is tropical, to a beautiful island with fantastic hospitality, is great,” said Montgomerie.
“I’ve got the family here with me, so it is a marvellous way to finish the year and it will be great to go back home for Christmas with the John Jacobs Trophy. It is a thrill for me to win the Order of Merit on the Senior Tour. I managed to do it eight times on The European Tour and I have those trophies at home, so the John Jacobs Trophy will now take pride of place among them.
“Of course, it would be great to be able to do what Paul Wesselingh did last year and win the tournament as well as the John Jacobs Trophy. I was very impressed with Paul last year and I know I will have to play my best this year if I am to achieve what he did. But it would be nice to round a great season off with another win, and that’s what I’ll be trying to do.”
Montgomerie was well-placed three shots behind Wesselingh in second position heading into the final round 12 months ago, but closed with a round of 74 to fall back four positions on the final leaderboard.
He therefore knows all about the potential pitfalls presented by the Legend Course, not to mention the quality of the field, both of which stand in the way of his hopes for a fifth victory of the year.
“It’s quite a tricky course,” he said. “You walk around the course and think it is 68 or 67 stuff, and yet there is a natural breeze from the ocean, and you have to position the ball, so your course management skills are tested. Scoring is higher because of that, and the greens are grainy and small. It is a challenging golf course, one you feel you should score on but you don’t necessarily do.
“The MCB Tour Championship a big week for the Senior Tour and we have one of the best fields of the season. The leading 60 players from the year are here, and rightly so, as it is a great tournament.”
