Colin Montgomerie believes a slight improvement in his putting will move him into contention at this week’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
Montgomerie is part of a stellar field set to tee it up at Harbor Shores this week as he goes in search of his fourth Senior Major Championship and his third at this event.
The 54 year old finished tied 27that last week’s Regions Tradition, the first Senior Major of the year, as Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez triumphed for his maiden Senior Major win.
Montgomerie’s eight under par finish was eight shots behind joint runners-up Joe Durant, Gene Sauers and Steve Stricker, a margin the Scot believes he can close if he holes one extra putt every nine holes.
He said: “I just wish the hole was slightly bigger than it is. I'm just brushing the sides of it right now. I'm maximizing my score as opposed to minimizing it. And I'm walking off thinking ‘well that should have been three less or that should have been two less.’
“It's only one putt every nine holes that's not going in or brushing the side or hitting the lip or something. Now you add that up over four rounds and that's eight shots and that's where I'm off.
“It's one putt for nine holes that isn't going in right now and it's got to, to win.”
The KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship was the setting for Montgomerie’s first Senior Major win – in 2014 – before successfully defending his title in 2015 at French Lick and finishing second to Rocco Mediate in 2016.
The 2010 Ryder Cup winning captain feels, because of the heavy rain witnessed and forecast, that the course at Harbor Shores will play differently to previous years.
“It was quite fast running the last two times we have been here, the weather's been fantastic,” he said. “This year apparently, according to the locals, they have had nine inches of rain in the last nine days.
“That's a hell of a lot for a golf course to take. So, it's going to play very differently, meaning that the fairways are going to be much wider than they were before because the ball's not running the way it did.
“So this course is all based - and most Jack Nicklaus courses are - on the second shots, distance control with the second shots. That's why I've done particularly well here in the past because my strength is being able to hit an iron shot a certain distance.”
Montgomerie will tee it up in a group alongside Mediate and three-time Major Champion Vijay Singh in the first round tomorrow and the Scot is relishing the competition against two men he knows well.
“I played with Vijay many, many times when he used to play in Europe and over here when we used to play in Majors together, we're a similar age,” he said.
“Rocco's a character, a super guy, and very worthy winner two years ago when we came up against each other.
“He obviously feels confident here. According to him, he's playing the golf of his life right now. He's had a lot of top ten finishes on the Tour and he's doing very well.
“My job over the first two days is make sure I'm ahead of Vijay Singh and Rocco Mediate, as I'm sure they feel the same with me. So if I can do that, if I can sit here on Saturday or Friday night and be ahead of Vijay Singh and Rocco Mediate, job done.
“And then we'll move on from there, hopefully. Because that's a difficult task in itself, just to beat my playing partners, never mind everyone else.”
