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OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSICJanuary 23, 2019Colin MontgomerieDubai, United Arab Emirates COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Just talking to Peter Dawson there yesterday, and it's amazing, the golf course itself, how it's stood the test of time. Most courses we have been to for 30 years have changed routing plans or greens or new holes been built or new greens been built or whatever. This, this hasn't, and it shows what a great design and what a great setup it was 34 years ago when it first was designed. Still to this day remains one of the best courses we play. So everybody has a real pat on the back for what they have done here and continue to do so. It's one of the ones that everybody out there on the range wants on their C.V., to win the Dubai Desert Classic, is a big event on our tour, and hopefully will remain so for many, many years. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Cameron on the bag. Came in from Hawai'i. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, I left Alistair in Charlotte where he belongs, and we came in from Hawai'i. I won't make a big issue of it the way Poulter did, but I got here. Yeah, without Alistair, I needed to buy a book -- well, I couldn't. I wanted to pay cash for the book, you know. How much is the book -- can't do that, can't do that, no, it's all online. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Electronic. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: So had to get an app and all sorts of stuff and then I had to get the back. Alistair has the book. I don't have the book -- can't see it. Bit embarrassing if I have to put my glasses on and take them off to see this thing. How the hell are you supposed to read that? That was a disaster. That was 30 pounds wasted (laughter). So, thank God, Cameron, my son is on the bag and he's got better eyesight than I have. I'll have to trust him, because I know my way around here. If I don't know my way around here by now, there's something wrong with me. Yeah, it's a good golf course and I look forward to it. Q. Talking to a lot of the players about the new rules that have come in for this year and wanted to get your general thoughts. There seemed to be debate. What are your general thoughts? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, I think anything takes its time to get into the system. It's a lot of changes, an awful lot of changes, the most changes that we've had for, well, since I started playing professional golf, and it will take a bit of time to get used to, you know. I agree -- I agree with most of them regarding, you know, three minutes instead of five minutes looking for the ball because five always was seven, you know. So now three will be five at least. And all to speed up play, you know, really. But it would have been a lot easier, it would have been a lot easier to say, well, you want to speed up play, we'll punish the slow players. That would be easier, wouldn't it, really. Because I keep playing with people that are too slow and don't get punished, you know. We need to have more of a deterrent, a stronger deterrent to punish the slower players and that would have been easier than changing The Rules of Golf to speed up play. Just punish the slow ones and get off with it. Q. I know you're on social media. What are your thoughts on the content committee and the Monty Pythons? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'm very worried, actually, very concerned, that this becomes reality, because my one great fear in life is snakes (laughter). So there's a bit of an issue there, isn't there, really. So a slight problem, but I think it's going to go forward with it. I think -- I spoke to Henrik Stenson this morning and Tommy Fleetwood and they want to take this forward, so good luck to them. I hope they enjoy it. Q. What do you make of it? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I think it's promoting the Tour. It's the modern way. It's the life we live in here and if you don't embrace it, you fall behind. You get lost. Whether you are a fan of it, like it or hate it or not, it's here to stay. You know, you've got to go with it and yeah, even at my age, we have sort of a mandatory meeting coming up in a couple of weeks in Tucson on the Champions Tour in America, and it's all about social media and how the Champions Tour can promote itself and themselves to generate more awareness. Whether you like or not, it's here and you've got to go with it. Halfway there. Q. I understand you tried to replicate the fabled driver yesterday? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I did. I did. Q. Did it give you a greater sense of appreciation for the shot or where would you rate that shot? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, good, I was asked -- I was asked by Falcon Golf to bring out the club that I used 23 years ago -- it was March, and it had just come out 23 years ago. I rum aged around and found it along with its 3-wood partner. They were great clubs, they made me a lot of money, those two clubs. I couldn't believe putting it next to the big-headed clubs of today how small, how small it was, and actually smaller than a 3-wood and that's why it was easier to hit off the fairway the way it was. But yeah, hitting it yesterday, and not making the carry, and thinking I'd hit it well, yeah, it proved to me that under the pressure, as well, being one ahead, if it had gone wrong, if it hit out of the heel or the toe or the bottom of the club, of course, it wasn't making it. So yeah, it did give me a sense of, that was quite good, I was quite proud of myself, having not done it yet. And yet, the third shot I hit and I hit it well, I struck it well, and it didn't splash. And I thought, I've made it. I've made the carry. What I didn't know, I couldn't see that far, it hit the brick wall in front of the green, bounced up in the air and took an age to drop back in the water. So I thought, I thought I made it, and then, splash. But Tommy Fleetwood made it. He was with us. Matthew Fitzpatrick and Cabrera-Bello, they didn't, but Tommy made it on. He said he hit it to 20-foot but it was more 20 yards (laughter). It was interesting, and I apologise for anybody that hits it from there, because there's a couple of divots. Matthew Fitzpatrick took a couple of divots, so I apologise if there's a couple of divots by that spot. Q. Is that one shot -- COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I think so. I think so, especially under the conditions. You could hit a shot like that if you're 15th and want to try to get in the Top-10 or something but being one ahead, and having finished second the year before to Freddie Couples in '95, to come back in '96 and, okay, right, take this on, you know, and to pull it off -- pull it off was good, yeah. To come back after finishing second and win again, that was great. So yeah, it's the -- every time anyone asks me what's the best shot you've hit, it's a very easy answer: That one. Q. As someone who has been an ambassador of Scotland for a number of years, do you have any thoughts on Andy Murray's situation and the torment? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, all I can and all of Scotland and Britain and really, the world of tennis, wish him well and hopefully he can, if he's got more surgeries -- well, he's still a young man, you know. Federer is proving that; that there is time in your 30s to win majors, more majors and have more success, and that's obviously what -- he's still ambitious and the will to win hasn't left him and you can see that, playing that five-set match in Australia. That's amazing, the will to win. He's still got that. He just can't get to the positions that, you know, that he wants to have. So if he's got to go for more, go for it, because that's a very young age to stop, a very young age to stop doing what you love to do, and any chance he has of getting back to any sort of form, you know, well, we wish him well. Q. Is do you feel lucky that your career, you managed to avoid that? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Very. Very. Everyone talks about the Order of Merit victories and stuff in a row it was only, really, I was very, very fortunate to stay very healthy during that time, very healthy. I didn't miss an event through illness. I didn't miss an event through injury, and you see, most sportsmen have a series of months off and I couldn't have done it that way. I was very, very fortunate to stay healthy during that time and remain that way, yeah. Q. Just a word on Pádraig Harrington, Ryder Cup Captain choice. What are your overall thoughts? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, super. I picked Pádraig back in 2010 and he'll make a good captain. Tough job. Tough job, because America want it back, in America. It's never easy playing away from home, you know, and on a course that will be set up for them, and he knows that. But he's got a great bunch of lads, and the standard, the standards now, it's phenomenal. Been watching on the range there and I left; I've had enough. They are all caring a TrakMan, 20,000 quid, TrakMan. 30 quid. 30 quid, there you go, and a waste of time (laughter). I couldn't believe what's going on now, you know. I used to know the range and I don't know it much now at all. They are all half my age and younger, but they are all wanting success and a part of it. Pádraig, we wish him well. He's had a great Ryder Cup career, and let's hope it, you know, finalises and obviously a win for Europe in America. But you know, he knows as well as anyone, it will be tough and it will be good. Q. What characteristics in particular does he have? What kind of captain do you expect him to be? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: He's very factual. He's very factual in what he's done, and I think that he'll bring that to bear during The Ryder Cup. He'll have it all worked out, you know, and I think he's got respect, as well, which is vital, in a captain. He's got the respect of the players. If he says something, they are going to listen to him, and it's vital that that happens in a team room environment. I think he'll be very, very good, and the obvious choice, at this stage, yes. Q. What can we expect from you this week? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You know, technology, it's amazing. Technology, I'm hitting the ball further now than I ever did, apart from last night, my driver. Disappointing. But you know, technology, irons, they are more forgiving, the irons. The ball is staying in the air longer. It's amazing how technology has given me and a number of players my age another five, ten years, really, yeah, playing at this level, and I feel I can compete; if I can putt well here, I can get around well here. This isn't one of the longer courses on the Tour. Last week was much much longer, a bigger test. This is more a positional play, percentage-type golf course, and if I can putt well, I could, yeah, we could do okay. I'm speaking for Ernie. He can do the same. Olazábal, the same. That's our group, and speaking for our group myself, but anybody out there, if they putt well, it's all down to the putting. There's always more people on the range with TrakMan trying to fit it further, but you know as well as I do, if you don't hole yourself en-foot momentum putts at the right time, you can forget it. Q. Does your ambition go beyond making the cut? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: My ambition goes beyond making the cut, yes. I think it's got to. Yeah, long way to come. A long way to come. (Laughter) a long way to come, God, I hope I make the putt. Ambition goes beyond making the cut. I was disappointed last year. I played particularly badly. I had just thrown away the Hawaiian tournament last year by bogeying the last hole. I was one ahead playing the last and my mistake, I bogeyed the last and I was down. Started off here on the 10th and 13th holes, the two par 5s and made two sixes and missed the cut by a couple. I was disappointed and I was down a bit. Having finished seventh last week, I feel a lot better. How weird's that? So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow morning to get going, yeah. Q. If you were to come back and play The European Tour full-time, where would you finish now? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Interesting. I would be disappointed not to make The Race to Dubai. Disappointed not to make the Top 60. Q. Still hit it far enough? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah. I think Søren Kjeldsen was saying there's not a hole he couldn't birdie out there. There's not a hole I can't reach, you know -- in three. (Laughter) I'd have to think that. There's nothing in particular that would stop. I don't have any affliction, yet. Working on it, but I'm not -- I haven't got any affliction yet and I can still get the ball around, and yeah, I'm competitive and as ambitious as ever. Q. Could you win? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Good question. Could I win? It would have to be the right course. I would have to play the right course. This would -- if I was going to select ten courses on The European Tour for me to win on, this would be one of them. Can't think of the other nine, but this would be one of them. Q. That was the next question? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes. God, what others? What others? But no, I mean, they are getting longer obviously. There's no course we go to that's shorter than the one previous, but at the same time, this is one of them. Small, tight greens. Tight fairways. That type of course setup would suit me, yeah. Q. How many of the players with TrakMans would you recognise and would they be nervous ask for advice? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Whether they are nervous, I don't know, but they wouldn't ask for advice, I don't think. But at the same time, I wouldn't know. I mean, the people walking with TrakMans around and the entourages that seem to be with them, you know, five guys on computer screens behind them hitting a driver. My view of the TrakMan, and I don't know if any of you have ever used a TrakMan machine or whatever these things are, but every shot you hit, you want to better it the next time you hit it, don't you. And then it gets a bit of a thrashing game and then it gets, just hit it as hard as I possibly can. Well, that's not -- that defeats the purpose. I don't know, when it comes down to the last hole and you've got a wrong yardage, 165 and your 8-iron can't get there and it's really a 7 -- what do we do, TrakMan? TrakMan goes out the bloody window there. Now it's up to you and now it's up to you to feel how close you can get the ball close to the hole, and that's how I play and that's how a lot of my, hate to say generation, play. It's different now. It's all numbers. It's a numbers game. But is it any better? I'm not sure, you know. But it's certainly a numbers game that they are out there now pounding balls as hard as they possibly can, and if the TrakMan says your clubhead speed was 122, well, the next shot, you're not anxious to make it 121, are you, the next shot. It only goes the other way, and then you just thrash and thrash and thrash until it's like, okay, I have to thrash my way out of it. That was good. That was a great session. So that's me not getting a free TrakMan, isn't it (laughter) talked myself out of that one. Can I have a free yardage book instead, because I'm 30 quid light, two of them. MICHAEL GIBBONS: As always, thank you very much for joining us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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