DORAL-RYDER OPEN

March 4, 1998

Colin Montgomerie

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I played here last year as you're probably aware with a number of other players that felt the same way. And I think the course has improved from last year. I've never seen the fairways look better nor the greens putt so well. I think they've made the course fairer. I think three places in particular where the ball used to roll down into the water, on No. 3 and No. 8 and No. 18, and they've stopped that this year. So they put a bank of rough in. So that's very good. And I think the course is playing very fair and very well.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: There's a lot of them, isn't there? They are better, I think there's a number of ones that have been taken away or reduced in size, at least, and I think it's now a very good tournament golf course, very good. With the breeze that tends to blow here all the time, it's always a good venue to play.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure. It's always a sort of barrier to get through, I suppose. The Andersen was a different sort of tournament, the beginning of it happened in England, so it was sort of -- it wasn't a very American tournament as such. The World Cup was a good win for me. Going back to Kiawah Island, a place I never thought I'd return to. And that was a good result for me. To win a four-round event in the States is very pleasing. My goal this year as it has been every time I've come over here is to win a PGA TOUR event. And that's obviously the goal. And I give myself a little more chance this year than I have in the past. I'm only here for four or five tournaments. It's difficult. I've come quite close in the past, playoffs and sorts, but I haven't won. That's my goal this year.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm playing these four tournaments and then taking New Orleans off and play The Masters and Heritage, and I'll come back for the one before the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open and then I'll go to the PGA and the Sprint and the World Series that I qualified for through the World Cup win. And I might add in The Memorial as well, as an option. There's a number of tournaments that I'm going to play in this year.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm never too happy when I finish 10th, but at the same time having seven weeks off, I suppose 10th wasn't too bad. My putting wasn't too good, I hit the ball well.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I just think that the competition is tougher here. I think I have to say that in complete fairness, that the competition is stiffer here, thus you can't afford to make any mistakes and win, if you know what I mean. In Europe sometimes I felt that I haven't played at a hundred percent and ended up winning. Here I think you have to, the competition is stronger here. And that's good, it's more of a challenge, if you like. Don't get me wrong, I'm not -- the world ranking says the strength of World Golf is in America.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: That's being addressed. We've employed a number of more agronomists on our Tour now, and that situation won't happen again. So we've got that sorted out now in Europe. It's taken a few years to do and we've got it sorted out now and it won't happen again.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I don't know what's happened. I don't know what they've done to the course. We'll find out when we get there. But I don't know whether they should -- why stop somebody, if he's that good, well, good luck to him. And if he does it again, well, good luck to him then, as well. Why prevent someone who's come to a place and torn it apart, if you like, and why come to the place next year and find it all changed? If he's that good he'll prove it again, which he might well do.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I mean, I think -- I don't know, how can you make it more difficult? You can't keep lengthening it and lengthening it, I suppose. The only way to protect that particular golf course is by putting the greens quick and by hiding the pins, and I think they've done that very well the last few years, as far as I'm concerned. So I don't know what you're supposed to do really, at all. It is the only venue that we go back to every year, and hasn't changed much in my seven years of playing there, I only find that they can't possibly put the pin there, and they do. So it's -- it will be interesting to see what, if anything, has been done this year, but I don't think much will be done there.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I think it could grow rough, it's up to them. It's the only place we do play, and why should it be that there's none. There's nothing in the rules of golf that there should be rough on the golf course. They've always done things their own way, and I think they'll continue doing that.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'll go there later this year. I go Monday evening, I have to attend the International Dinner on Monday evening, and I'll just play Tuesday, and that will do me.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I won't be playing golf. My children are coming out, I believe, so I'll go try and do the Disney scene around Orlando. I enjoy it more than they do.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I'm hitting the ball a lot further off the tee now, my iron shots, I'm aiming at the pin as opposed to aiming left of the target. And I think that's been beneficial to me over the last two years. I haven't actually faded the ball the last two years like I used to. I think I'm more confident of where the ball is going, and thus hitting it harder, and thus it's actually staying straighter. That's about as technical as I get.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I try and not ask Seve his experiences lately. It wouldn't be too confidence boosting. But, no, I don't. No, you know what to expect at the U.S. Open and U.S. PGA, you know what to expect. The course, itself, doesn't affect the situation that much. You know what to expect. It doesn't matter where you play you have to hit the ball dead straight. And it doesn't matter where you are, you know what you've got to expect and actually achieve that. So, because I haven't played Olympic or the Seattle course, it doesn't affect me in any way. I know what to expect there, and these two courses do suit me. I know they do before I get there.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I will.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: We'll have a different view. It's never worked the way I've been doing it so far. So let's change. Let's do something different, and it might just work, you never know.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I usually play three, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. By the time I get around to the Thursday, I've hit all my good shots. There's not many left. So I think this year I'm going to have to redress that situation, and only play one. So hopefully by Thursday, Friday, I'll be in my Tuesday, Wednesday mode.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I think it will at the Masters, particularly, yeah. I can now reach 15, hopefully. So then I can go through the back of the green in 2 instead of 3 now, that will be exciting, that will save one shot. So I think it will help, yeah, I think it will help, I hit the ball further now than I ever have, so I'm more confident.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I think --

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I know where the pin was.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: That's okay, I don't to need to be reminded where the bloody pin was. The situation there was slightly different. Ernie had hit a tremendous shot, as you're aware. And I felt he wasn't going to hole the putt.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I thought he wasn't, because it went big and up the back slopes, it was a difficult shot. I wanted to play the right-hand side and let it come down that way. I just over did it. You put that down to nerves and not my ball flight, particularly. I think just the situation. I was trying to do the right thing. I wasn't going left. Left wasn't good. So right wasn't all that good, either, actually. But left would have been worse.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I've just been reminded of it. Super. Thanks for that. No, not really, not really. After all what happened at the 17th, I had to wait until the commotion sort of quieted down. I must admit, I wouldn't have taken my putt back halfway down it's line. It was only -- three foot I was going to pick it out of the hole. It didn't take the break I thought at the end. All I could do was hit the putt as well as I could, and I did that. I putted very well all day. And it was the only 6-footer or 7-footer that I missed. And I just happened to misread it, I didn't hit the putt badly. So I wouldn't have taken anything back that I did, I don't regret anything that happened on that green.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Not particularly, no. I'm very happy and comfortable with what's been going on in Europe and what I do in Europe. But leading up to major championships, of which the TPC is one, as well. I think this is the place to play, to learn and to compete. And I'll always go back to Europe and play as much there as I do here, sort of thing, as I'm doing here. But I do enjoy coming over here. I think it's very good. People take it all for granted the way these courses are prepped and the way the players are treated and the way that everybody comports themselves around the course, from crowds to the way that the whole thing is run. I think it's all taken -- it's a fabulous, fabulous Tour you have here and hopefully people realize that and accept it for what it is, because it is -- it's a fabulous place to play golf.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I do. I've never discounted that I might take my Tour card. And I might well do next year or the following year or whatever. But I've never discounted that, I've never closed the door. I think it would be crazy of me ever to do so.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Very, very close, just the birth of our third child in May sort of put a stop on it, having to spend that time at home, as I want to do, I would have had to come back, and it would have been all too much. So I've got certain commitments in Europe, as well, and it just wasn't going to work out. But it might well do in 1998.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: A B-list?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I think playing with Jack Nicklaus tomorrow suggests I'm on the A-list now.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, I have a personality, that's for sure. I think just working with Jesper Parnevik makes things very humorous. As you're aware, his father is in the humor business, and he's certainly given that to his son. And it was quite relaxed. It was a different atmosphere to the usual Callaway ads, where you're stuck on the black and black, and everybody says cut and say something, and it doesn't happen the same way. This was a more relaxed atmosphere, the whole thing, and it worked out very well. And the ads have come out slightly better. And I'm taken in a different light, which is good for me.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, because I think people, as you say, have got the wrong impression sometimes, and it's not me, and the Callaway address sort of put an unnatural atmosphere for a pro golfer to go in a Hollywood studio and try at their game, it's a comfort zone business. And I wasn't very comfortable with the last advertisements. I am now, and I'm sure Mr. Callaway feels the same way.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It's very difficult for me to speak of other people. I haven't spoken to him this year about anything. He's obviously done very well throughout, since the Ryder Cup, and since -- through the winter, he's had a lot of good wins. And he's a young lad, he's not married, and there's no reason why he can't split his time between here and Europe or whatever he wants to do. He's free to make that choice. But I can't speak for him, I don't know what he's doing.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, that's obviously the start to probably progressing into 15 or above.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I have my days, and my weeks, where I go for it and then I have my days and weeks where I don't.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I think when I'm at home I want to spend time with my family and stuff, and that's more important to me than working out, if you like, because I tend to want -- I've won when I've classified myself as thinner, and I've won when I'm heavier, so it doesn't really affect myself the same way.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Certainly not a basketball player.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I have an opinion about things, and I have aired them in the past and I'll air them in the future. I think it's good that I can do that, have the freedom to do that, and I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes. I'm trying to be constructive with my opinion, and I think it's good that I have an opinion. I think you'd rather me come in here and say things to you than have a yes and no.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm always welcomed by the American players, I get along very well with the American players, and they respect me and I respect them, as well. We respect each other for what we do, sure.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm a shareholder, careful.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I would like to see a Tour ball, I would like to see a Tour ball introduced. I don't know what we can do about that. I think the manufacturers of clubs, I think that's a goner. In tennis you don't find when Sampras serves he has his own balls, you know. And other guys the same. But they have different rackets. And that's okay. But I think the ball, we have to do something, I think, to standardize it a little bit more. And I think the ball has to be the No. 1 thing to standardize. I think there should be a tournament golf ball we all use, whether it's made by Dunlop or Titleist or Bridgestone or whatever the case may be, but it should be a standard ball. It could be made by all three companies could make a standard ball, if they're given some guidelines, I believe, that we can't keep on extending golf courses, we're going to run out of land.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, I think it's up to us to agree, as well, all the players. If we agree to that, I think that's a very fair thing to do. And if someone ends up hitting the ball further with the same golf ball, more credit to him.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure, they could make a ball that doesn't spin much, if you have a low flight, they could make one that spins more for you. If you hit one very high, they could make one that doesn't spin very much, so it evens itself out. The technology is there. We could do with standardizing of the ball, I think that's been said in the past, and I think that will be spoken of more. We can't keep on extending things. Technology is improving all the time.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, bunkers are being carried now that weren't before. Now, whether it's the clubs or whether it's the ball, a bit of both.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: We are bigger and stronger, but at the same time I think it would be nice to bring these hazards into play, and not be driving and pitching wedges like a lot of courses have become.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: The first thing we have to do is slow the ball down, I think, yeah.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm very tired. I came from the Middle East, and from London across yesterday. So I'm not going to practice. I'm not a great practicer, anyway. So I don't need any excuse, I'm tired right now, so I'm going to sleep. I'm off early in the morning.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Not really, not really, I don't. I've often said that the U.S. Open is my best opportunity of winning a Major, and that still remains. It doesn't mean I put any pressure on myself, it just makes me more focused when I get there. That's not saying I can't win the others, I just feel that's my best opportunity. But there's no pressure on it, really, no pressure on my self. I haven't lost U.S. Opens because I put too much pressure on myself, no, no.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: We don't have the time. (Laughter.) I think, no, it's -- no, no, I don't want to say anything about Augusta and that part of it. I think that's a design that's going to remain, and I can't do anything about it. I've just got to learn to accept it and actually play it better and score on it better than I have in the past.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It's just very, very difficult. We usually work in yards. There you work in feet and inches. Answer your question?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Exactly. And yes, you get it right some of the time. And other players tend to get it right more of the time.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, you don't get it right the penalties are so severe. And I haven't been getting it right. So, yes, you've got to, as I say, it's not the yard, it's the foot. That's why Langer has won there twice. And Faldo has won three times, it's precision golf. The precision didn't really matter to Tiger, because he was going in with wedges. You've got to be more precise, get in with a 5-iron. So that was taken away last year, but the Langer-Faldo scenario is the perfect type of play and mental approach to everything that I have to learn. And hopefully I've learned now, and I'll be going in there hopefully with a different attitude this year and accepting it more, and I'm playing it better.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: He played with me and Phil Mickelson the first round in the U.S. Open last year. And that was as good as I could ever play golf. And then obviously in beating Davis at the Andersen Consulting thing, I hit a number of good iron shots at the end there. I do hit my iron shots there well. I've got to get to Augusta and do it there, in fact I have to hit them better than I ever have better.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Oh, dear, I have no idea, all right? I have no idea. I haven't been involved in that discussion at all.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I hope not. I hope not. I don't think it's right to be false and be accepted that way. I think I am who I am, hopefully, and that's the way it is. I don't think there's any need to be false in any form of life, whether you play golf or whether it's your business or anything. I don't think that works out, no.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You just do. I'm 34 years old and I'm very lucky with what I do. And if I have another seven or eight years at this level I'll be very happy, and I'm willing to work very hard for that next seven or eight years, and then hopefully by that stage I can have a good look at the whole pie and have a look with what I want to do with it, but up until that stage I'm quite prepared to go anywhere and fly anywhere and play anywhere.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: What's wrong with Houston? I thought Cleveland was the mistake. (Laughter.) Houston is not that bad. I never spent a summer there. I used to go home. I got away from the summer heat. No, I thoroughly enjoyed myself in Houston. I had four happy years there. And I always felt I might, if I did turn professional, I might come back and play golf in the States and look forward to it. But always my home and family were in Scotland, so there was no way I would stay there permanently after college, not like Elkington or that type of deal.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: A little bit. When I'm coming down against whoever it might be the next time, if there is a next time, if I'm lucky enough there is a next time it will make it -- if you can say this -- a better win, I suppose. I'll celebrate a little bit longer, if it does happen. But it does tend to put pressure on you, because everyone's saying, look, you've been close whenever it was, and this one and that one and everything, do you feel the pressure mounting and stuff. And it all comes from you guys a lot of the time, which is natural. I've just got to get that out of my mind and beat whoever I've got to beat, I suppose. And if he beats me, I play well and he beats me, more power to him. Like Ernie Els last year, I played well and he beat me, so more credit to him.