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THE SENIOR OPEN PRESENTED BY ROLEX

July 24, 2019

Colin Montgomerie

Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Q. It must be nice to be back for the last major on a links course.
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Very much so. I think this is super. The best thing about it so far here is the weather. I think it's been fantastic. The crowds, we knew the crowds would come out, but the weather helps, of course. It's a great catchment area at Lytham, where we are. You've got Manchester, you've got Liverpool, you've got Leeds, as well, and Scotland, England, it's right in the middle of the country, so it's a great catchment area.

Course is fantastic. The players who played in the 2001 Open and also the 2012 Open I think forgot really how good this course was as a golf course. 197 bloody bunkers. There's a lot of them. Stay out of them. But it's been great.

We're looking forward to a fabulous championship ahead.

Q. I suppose if it gets windy, it's one hell of a test of golf, isn't it.
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: If it gets windy, you hit the ball in the air, and by definition the wind is going to affect it. Good shots can roll into some trouble.

It's a great test of golf, great test of golf. When you're saying that 197 bunkers, you divide that by 18, you've got 11 a hole, an average of 11 a hole. That's ridiculous. There's a bunker around every corner. Everywhere you look there's a bunker. Links golf, we all know that the secret of links golf is to stay out of the bunkers. You saw people last week at the Open, they were driving into bunkers, it was an automatic bogey. You've got to stay out of the bunkers. That's the main thing.

Q. What would you say are the key holes or toughest holes on the course?
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Lytham is always reputed to have a great last five holes. Four out of five really, I suppose. 16 is less so, but still a very dangerous hole in its own right.

But I think to be level -- we're playing the 6th hole this week as a par-4, and I think if anyone is level after 6, they've got a good score ahead of them, waiting for them. 11 is sort of moved forward a wee bit, so you can get up at 11. But the first six holes are very difficult, very difficult. Difficult to start with a par-3, as well. It's a funny sort of start. It's a different start. We're not used to it.

So it's great. I think we all look forward to it immensely when we kick off.

Q. Of course you've got good memories here because you had a good round of 65 here, as well.
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, I did. I led The Open for two day, Thursday and Friday. I wish it was only 36 holes and not 72. So I led here in 2001 and it was great. My 65, the first round was a good score. You do feed off that, and you have good memories about shots you hit then and remembering -- might be 18 years ago, but you still remember where not to go and to go, and it's exciting to come back to a place that you've had reasonable success at, yeah.

Q. You're playing with Retief Goosen tomorrow. He won two weeks ago. Would you say he's the man to beat this week?
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It's tighter off the tee than it was at Firestone there, so you know, he's got to stay out of the bunkers as well as anybody, but yeah, confidence-wise, definitely, the last guy to win on the Champions Tour and a major included.

But you've got to think of the strategists, as well. You've got to think of Bernhard Langer. I'm playing with Freddie Couples, as well, tomorrow. He strikes the ball as well as anyone. And of course a lot of the top Americans, as well, are over. We've got some newcomers to this. Paul Lawrie is here for the first time, Michael Campbell, Darren Clarke. It's fantastic, and it keeps on getting better and better every year.

Some great competition, and I just look forward to trying to compete with them.

Q. Of course you won three senior majors and you've got a good record here, you've come second and third. This is one tournament you'd love to win?
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Oh, yeah. When you think about the R&A tournaments, I haven't won one. Second at the Open, second at the British Amateur, second at the British Youths, second at the Senior Open. You think, wait a minute, I've got a lot of these runner-up trays but I haven't actually got a trophy. So let's hope one day the door will open and I'll be able to walk through it. But if not, I've had great success in these R&A events, and I've loved every one of them, and this is no different.

Q. How is your game, and are you in good form coming into this week?
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, not too bad. I had a good round yesterday, good practice round yesterday, as I'm going to do today, and look forward to trying to, as you say, just keep it out of the bunkers. If you keep it out of the bunkers around here, you'll do well. Like any links course, you don't want a barrier in front of you. The rough is high in places, sparse in others, so you've just got to get fortunate, as well. I've never raised a trophy and said I was unlucky, I can assure you. There's always a wee bit of luck that has to come your way. The roll of the ball has to be in the right direction. But yeah, we all look forward to it.

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