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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAIDMay 24, 2014Colin MontgomerieBENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN KELLY ELBIN: With a birdie putt on the 18th green, Colin Montgomerie has a one‑shot lead over Bernhard Langer heading into the final round of the 75th Senior PGA Championship Presented By KitchenAid. How do you feel‑‑ COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Good. KELLY ELBIN: ‑‑ after today. Great round, 68. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, that was quite an introduction. That's nice, that's why I came here. KELLY ELBIN: To hear that? COLIN MONTGOMERIE:  Oh, to hear that? Yeah, for starters. And also I had the opportunity of playing at Wentworth, our own BMW PGA is on and that's our flagship event on the European Tour and I'm still eligible for that and it was a decision that was made that I would rather try and come here and contend, other than go to or stay in London and have a good finish and finish 20th. I have committed to the Champions Tour now and I'm loving it and so this is why we are here. So it's great that we're in contention and I look forward to playing golf tomorrow and look forward to playing with Bernhard again. If you play with Bernhard Langer four times on any tournament on the Champions Tour, you're doing something right. Obviously, I am. So I look forward to playing with him. We have been foursomes and four‑ball partners many times in the Ryder Cup together and we know each other's game very much. I know that he is a sort of player that doesn't make any unforced errors and gets the best out of his game. I'm similar in that way. The unforced errors don't tend to creep in that much. So it will be a good competition tomorrow on a course with the others just chasing as well. Someone of the pack is going to come out and score a good score, so you have to counteract that with your own good play. So it will be interesting tomorrow. KELLY ELBIN: Seemed as though your patience was tested a bit with his meticulous nature today. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: That's very diplomatic. That's the most diplomatic anyone's ever, ever, ever, even been since yesterday. KELLY ELBIN: I think I learned it from you. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You did. What was that last word? Brilliant. KELLY ELBIN: Meticulous. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I will leave it at that. Meticulous. KELLY ELBIN: Did his slow play bother you at all? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You have to play with ‑‑ Bernhard is different. You have to adjust your own pace. There's no point in playing faster to make up for someone who isn't as fast. So you have to adjust your own pace and form and that's what I do playing with Bernhard. There's no point in me rushing around. I'm going nowhere on my own. Unless I do a Rory Sabbatini or something, you know. So you have to just abide ‑‑ that was good. So you just have to abide by what's gone on and you play accordingly. And I know the situation, I've known Bernhard for 30 years and I played golf with Bernhard for 30 years and I've enjoyed it. We have had great success and great times together. I really enjoy walking the fairways with him. So you just have to adjust accordingly. KELLY ELBIN: Open up for questions. Q. How good did it feel to make that birdie putt on 18 after the bogey on 17 and know that you're going to take the lead into Sunday? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Bloody good, because it was going a bit quick and I didn't fancy another one. After having missed one at 17, you don't fancy another one, do you. So thank God the hole got in the way, to be honest. That was a lovely way to finish, because the 8‑iron, I don't know why it went so far, but it did and you have to ‑‑ I was in the wrong quadrant of the green and I was in the wrong place, I was downhill, down grain and it was very fast. I did hit it slightly fast, to be honest, but it held its line and thank goodness it went in. So it was a joyous occasion. It was, more than anything, it was happiness in the Montgomerie camp. KELLY ELBIN: What was the length of that putt? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Oh, it was miles. If I do well tomorrow it will be even longer. It will be ‑‑ it will be longer tomorrow. It will be 50 foot tomorrow. It was only 30 today, but it will be 50 tomorrow. Q. If you were to play extremely well tomorrow and be fortunate enough to win this tournament, would it make up for all of the near misses and the disappointments on the Regular Tour? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I cannot really ‑‑ I'm not looking backwards at all. I'm not looking back. This is why I've joined the Champions Tour here, to look forward, really. I can't look back on all the shocking upsets and all the tragedies that happened in my golfing career in America. But thank you for bringing that up. I wasn't thinking about that. I wasn't thinking about that at this stage, but now, now you've been very kind and just bringing up all the tragic moments. But, no, it's just great to come out here and to contend. The crowd were great today. Playing with a European, we're off last tomorrow, playing with two Europeans out there playing in an away venue. The crowd have really been fantastic since I joined the Champions Tour. Everyone has been very hospitable and charming in every way. So it's been a delight since I joined the Champions Tour and I look forward to, as I say, playing golf tomorrow. It's a very good golf course, you've got to pinpoint your iron play and I would love to win, of course, I've said that when I first joined the Champions Tour, I would love to win anywhere, any time. If I put myself in positions, as I have this year, well, the door will open hopefully once. Now whether it happens tomorrow or whether it happens down the road, I don't know. If it happens tomorrow, great, fantastic. If it doesn't, well, I'll be gutted. Yeah. (Laughter.) That was a joke. No, no. It will be, hey, you know, someone comes out there and beats me by two shots, all credit to them. If you don't win, you continue and you go to the next one. It's a fantastic life and very, very fortunate to have this form of existence. Yeah. Q. Going back to beginning of the play, you seemed as we were coming right into the early of the game you were really very calm on the first through the 6th. I didn't notice, I mean, at least I didn't notice any real nervousness. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, were you expecting that, were you? Q. A bit. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I've done this before, you know. Q. Yes, I know. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Professional golfer by definition, you know. Q. But over‑‑ COLIN MONTGOMERIE: We have done this before. And I've been a pro now for a while and I've been in this position before, so I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous. Q. Well, you seemed a little, I think I meant gregarious. You‑‑ COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I don't get nervous. I don't, which is fortunate. You have a certain belief of your own ability, you have to have‑‑ and you play to that. You play to your strengths. Nervousness would be, would be a negative and you keep them out of the way. Q. Not looking back, but looking at the present and looking forward, do you‑‑ COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes. Q. ‑‑ do you feel like you have anything to prove to yourself or to anybody else playing senior golf? COLIN MONTGOMERIE: That's a good question. Very good question. No. No, not really. I've come over here to say for what, 50 to 60, for 10 years, possibly and to finish off my golfing playing career and come over here to enjoy myself, to be honest. The last five years on the European Tour, the courses are getting much longer, the competition is much stronger and enjoyment, I don't think it was as enjoyable as it is out here. So, I come here to enjoy one's self. Now to prove to anybody, no. No. Or to myself, no. Not at all. I would like to win, some time down the road, wherever that might be. It would be great to try and win in America. I always felt that to beat, to win in America's a very difficult thing to do, to come over here and win away from home, on an away patch, on golf courses that are usually suited to the American style of play. So, yeah, I would like to do that some time, but to prove to anybody, no, no. That, to me, would be looking back. And I'm looking forward. KELLY ELBIN: Final question. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No more questions? Wow. KELLY ELBIN: Colin Montgomerie the leader after three rounds. Thank you very much. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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