Defending champion Colin Montgomerie is wary of the competition he faces in next month’s US Senior PGA Championship, as he bids to lift the trophy for an historic third time.
Montgomerie won his first Senior Major title at Harbor Shores two years ago, and he is bidding to become only the third player in history to win the Championship in three successive starts.
Should the current John Jacobs Trophy holder win the first European Senior Tour event of the 2016 season, he would be the first to win three in a row since Hale Irwin from 1996-1998.
Despite going into next month’s tournament as twice-reigning champion, the 52 year old is not taking anything for granted ahead of the first round on Thursday May 26.
He said: “I can be beaten by 155 other people. It doesn’t matter what handicap we are, as soon as you think you’ve mastered this game it will come back and bite you. You’ve got to have your game on.
“The competition is getting better and better every year. The younger guys coming through are longer, fitter, stronger. It’s becoming harder every year to sustain one’s position.
“Having won here gives me some confidence, but it’s a matter of going out and trying to prove it over four very demanding days.”
Montgomerie will face stiff competition in Michigan next month, including from two-time Major Champion John Daly, who turns 50 this month.
German Bernhard Langer, bidding for his fourth victory in a Senior Major, is recognised by Montgomerie as a real contender in this year’s tournament.
“Bernhard Langer plays the game of golf properly,” he said. “There have been better, naturally gifted golfers, but Langer to me does everything right. He works it all out beforehand and does everything in a very professional way.
“He’s been the standard for many years. He’s the one score we look for on the leaderboard, and he’s the one person in the golfing scene that I respect the most.”
This year’s edition will mark the third time in five years that the tournament has been played on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, where England’s Roger Chapman claimed his maiden Major in 2012.
“I like Jack Nicklaus golf courses,” said Montgomerie. “I like how he gives you some room off the tee, but it’s a second-shot golf course. That’s how I’ve made a career.
“I can hit my second shot the right distance. I can hit that distance more than not, and that’s this course – you have to hit it the right distance.”
