There are few players who have as much experience at Sunningdale as Colin Montgomerie, who is bidding to win his fourth Senior Major Championship at the Senior Open presented by Rolex this week.
The 58 year old not only lives in Sunningdale, but he played here during the 1987 Walker Cup and also finished third during the last Senior Open here in 2015.
For him, the idea of winning on home soil would be up there with one of his greatest career achievements - particularly because the winner will also earn a spot in next year's 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews.
“This week would be right up there," said Montgomerie.
"The biggest achievement I've ever had was winning just down the road at Wentworth three times in a row. That was my biggest achievement, to win the BMW PGA as it is now, '98, '99, 2000, that was my biggest achievement, I'll always say that, to win at Wentworth three times in a row.
“To win here at 58 against a lot of good 50-year-olds would be right up there, I tell you, right up there. The three Wentworth trophies take pride of place in the trophy cabinet and this one would be right beside you, I assure you.
“We are all here to do that and we all know that if you do happen to win, you know, you get an invite to St Andrews next year, which would be a real celebration of golf, being the 150th Open. So that's on the radar as well for us all.
“So yeah, we're just looking forward to the whole thing, having moved here from -- we were in Windsor for a while and now I live in Sunningdale here now. So it's a definite home, a home tie.”
From the Walker Cup to third at the Senior Open here in 2015. @montgomeriefdn has plenty of experience at Sunningdale.#SeniorOpen pic.twitter.com/IA8BbDwFD4
— Legends Tour (@euLegendsTour) July 21, 2021
And that desire to compete has been a consistent theme throughout Montgomerie's career, which has carried over into his career on both the Legends Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
Less than three months after he turned 50, Monty earned his first Senior Tour win by six strokes. His first Senior Major the following year was quickly followed by his second (the Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open) in 2014, and his third came a year later.
And with 13 titles now across both the Legends Tour and PGA Tour Champions, Montgomerie is still as competitive as ever.
He said: “I was looking at my own family and my only father, who you hate to say, 50, you felt was older than we are now. Every generation goes ten years younger in many ways and when I turned 50, I just wasn't ready. I thought I would be but I just wasn't ready to stop competing, and that ambition was still there. The drive was still there. The will to win was still there, and I didn't want to lose it.
“So I went out on the Champions Tour, and yeah, we had success. 51 I won two majors and here we are. I've still got that fire and I've still got that ambition to win. If that goes, yes, I'll buy a couple Labradors and move to St Andrews and walk the dogs on West Sands Beach. But at the same time, until that happens, until I realise when that happens, I'll be playing out here. I love it. I love the competition. I love the whole scene of competitive golf, and so here we are at 58 and we're still going strong, yeah.”
And this week, the Scot will be hoping to put together that combination of fire to compete with an exceptional knowledge of the course, which he lauded with praise ahead of Thursday.
“I talked to Tim Petrovic and a few of the Americans and Jerry Kelly and guys that haven't been to Sunningdale before and a few of them have played Pine Valley which was ranked No. 1 in the world and they have for 20 years and they compare it to that.
“So you ask how everyone is feeling about the course, that's the biggest compliment that anyone can make to a course is to compare it to No. 1. It's superb. It's in better condition than it was for The Open qualifying or European Open we've played here in the past. It's beginning to get a little bit fiery now which is perfect. I think that's what they want and it's all set for a fantastic weekend.
“Yeah, it's superb. Everyone loves it, yeah. And, hey, they should. This is -- this is as good as it gets for inland courses.”
“Hate to use the word "senior" golf, we like to call ourselves champions or legends or whatever it might be; for a Senior Open, I think there's no better course to play. It's very playable for everybody here, yeah.”
