WGC ANDERSEN CONSULTING MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 22, 2000

Colin Montgomerie

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Nothing much, really, which is great. I had about ten weeks off, I believe, didn't hit a ball. My first round of golf this year was yesterday, here. And I don't do much. I suddenly have become a husband and father for ten weeks, which I don't do for most of the year. I was very busy toward the end of the year, as you're probably aware, and I decided to take ten weeks off, as I usually do, and don't play golf. And come out fresh, and ready to go, want to go play. I'm not stale. And we all love this game, but at the same time, you need a break from it, and take stock of what's going on and what's happening, and come back to it fresh, and that's where I am now.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: There's no reason why I can't do it again, I've done it with 12 weeks off before.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, I enjoy match play, I enjoy the challenge of it, and I enjoy one-on-one situation. I don't get the opportunity of doing it very much, and I enjoy that intensely. As I say, I look forward to it. And last year didn't work, but at the same time it didn't work for a number of people, I wasn't the only one. I was one of a number. It's like playing one set of tennis, like 18 holes of match play, it's over very quickly. And anybody is capable of beating anybody else out here, and it proved it last year, and will again.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure. There's nothing I can say that hasn't been said already. The guy is playing phenomenally well. Good luck to him. He's a streak ahead of anybody else. And our job, as I said at the end of last year is to raise our games. It's up to us to raise our games to his. We're finding it very difficult, a lot of us.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It's well up there, but it's not raised to its pinnacle, hopefully. I can still improve. I want to improve. And I, along with the rest of us, have to get better. Now, what that means, we're not quite sure right now. Technology is improving, which is helping us; it's helping him as well. So it's difficult. If the guy has that much talent and ability and has a will to win and a drive and ambition that he seems to have, that's everything. And we have to try and come to terms with that and accept it and go towards it. But right now, as I said, we're not finding it very easy.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, there's a number of things, with Callaway Golf, especially, have been working on. And I've been sort of having a look at, obviously not testing that much, because I haven't really done anything. But looking at it, and you'll find new things appearing in my bag throughout the year to hopefully improve and get better. I've started the year seventh last year, and finished off third. And my goal, I suppose, at the start of any year is to improve, and that means I can't improve much in Europe, so I have to think about the world. If I can get to No. 2 in the world at the end of this year, that would be a improvement. I can't get to No. 1, not this year, anyway.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm contracted with Titleist.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm contracted to Titleist.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I said I wasn't going to putt -- no, I don't play golf.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I don't play golf, no. In fact I had to open my thing, my bag up, Sun City I finished, and I haven't played since. I just don't play. And, one, I don't miss it, and two, I enjoy the break. I enjoy the break. I enjoy spending time with my family and doing other things. It's not like I haven't been doing other things, I've been looking at golf course designs and all sorts of stuff, and I haven't been sitting at home doing nothing. I've spent as much time away as players have playing golf, I just haven't played golf.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: The other day, Saturday, Sunday -- yeah, so I've just been -- my first round of golf this year was yesterday.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It was a lot better than it was last year, the course. The rough is more severe, which is good. I like that. It's just a shame that the weather is okay today, but we're not playing today. Apparently tomorrow is going to be bad again, and that's a shame for the tournament, because the course is much better this year, it's playing longer and more challenging than it was last year.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It's actually -- I don't know -- what are you trying to say?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: What are you trying to get me to say?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You are.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: She knows the system (laughter) as well as I do.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I know the system very well.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Why, you don't?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Why don't you understand it?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You're a golf journalist, right?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sorry, I don't know you. But you should know the system, then. What's the problem?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Average points per tournament, and Tiger Woods has got 20 of them, per tournament, and I've got 10. I didn't do as well as he did.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I don't know. I'm looking for Wednesday, hole-by-hole, Wednesday, I'm not looking beyond that. And I know I don't get better off by losing the first round, I assure you. So I understand the system quite well. And it goes in the calendar years, and we'll see. You win and you lose points according to the calendar year and not the tournament. And I think unless something comes up, I believe in the States they're trying to say that the official world rankings isn't quite right, but at the same time it's the best we've got. It's a very, very difficult way of trying to judge one's form, having five or six different Tours and people playing against each other in different parts of the globe and what have you. We can't use monetary terms, so we use a point system. And as I say, if no one comes up with a better system, which I don't think the other one is, this is the best we've got.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Possibly. Anyone is capable of beating anyone on a day. If this was over a year, this tournament, there might be a different outcome, but because it's a day, and because it's like one set of tennis and not three or five, it's very, very quick and it's over very quickly, and anyone is capable of beating anyone else still, on any course. But I think you're right in saying that there might be less higher-ranked players losing in the first day, possibly. But one would never know.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Not much. I played with him the last day in Atlanta last year, and we played very well. Obviously a long hitter, which would help him around here. But at the same time, I think it's his first time in this event, so we'll see. But obviously you can't say. Yes, I suppose I'm favorite, but at the same time he can beat me as well as I can beat him on a day-to-day basis.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Obviously there will be more support. If this tournament was held in Glasgow, I obviously would have more support than he would. He's from here, and that's fine. It doesn't really affect me. It wouldn't affect me.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, not really. I actually played quite well, surprisingly, and I'm looking forward to playing again today, and get all the rust out of the system, and we'll go Wednesday. That's all I need, really. I don't need much time to work things out, the swing hasn't changed in any way, shape, or form over the ten-week break. So I'll come out and -- my last tournament I was 20-under at Sun City, and I'm taking that into this one and hoping I'll do well.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I've just finalized this year's schedule really, to be honest. We'll see. It is early, but at the same time depends. If I'm defending champion, I'll go.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, this is a world event. And I was surprised to see on the telecast last year where it said foreigners who have made the second day. Well, to me we're all foreign, in a world event. And this is a world event, so it's not a Europe-versus-America type of idea, and that's once every two years. And this has nothing to do with that. This is a one on one match between players ranked in the world rankings. It's a world event, it's not a European -American thing. So it doesn't come into it.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Just the same as it was when I said, I'll play here, then also the TPC and The Masters and the other world events and majors. And the only other event I'm playing apart from that would be the TPC.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I believe it's coming on just before The Masters time, otherwise it might be out of date. So, yeah, it was good.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Listen.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: World Service will carry it. I can't tell you, that's --.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Tickle you? (Laughter).

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I'm not. You have to listen. Someone will have to listen and tell you.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: What?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: If you all know what was on it, why are you asking? That was the reason.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, the Millennium Dome, wasn't it?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, the British Aerospace -- I was there in the Mind Zone, it was interesting. Let me think. No particular highlight. I had two holidays, one in Barbados and one in Switzerland, I enjoyed that with the family, I suppose that was it, really.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, one official title, which is great. And trying to publicize the fact that Scotland is more on its own than it ever was before, and it's very interesting, and I spent a good day in Edinburgh and spoke to a load of captains of industry, about 400, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, and will enjoy the role.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I did.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Ten, 15 minutes.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: They didn't teach me that.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: They knew, actually. They were very good. They knew all about the world rankings, I don't know why you guys don't. They knew very much, yeah. They knew what was going on.