Monty should have been embraced

Updated: July 14, 2004, 1:21 PM ET

By Ron Sirak | Golf World

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He was called "The Goon from Troon" by Sports Illustrated and was heckled so rudely at The Country Club during the 1999 Ryder Cup that his opponent, Payne Stewart, offered to lecture the American fans on their behavior. Sadly, few among either the media or the fans ever got it about Colin Montgomerie. He was so easy to pick on -- a sour-faced, lumpy Scotsman without a major championship or a PGA Tour victory -- that everyone missed the point. It was because Monty was outspoken and emotional that he should have been embraced, not rejected. And it is because his career can be discussed in the past tense that this needs to be said now.

More misunderstood than anything, maybe it's not too late to embrace Monty.

Few probably noted it, but Monty's spot in this week's British Open was not handed to him. He earned it in a playoff after a 36-hole qualifier at Sunningdale late last month. And it is a curious irony this year's Open, into which Monty had to elbow his way, is being played at Royal Troon, the club at which his father was once secretary. Because politicians, boxers and golfers never really retire, it is possible Monty, 41, can become competitive again. But the overwhelming evidence (six missed cuts in his last eight major championships) is not encouraging. It's a pity. Sports need people like Colin Montgomerie.

Think of the behavior for which Monty was criticized. He snarled at fans when they called him names or cheered his failures. He glowered at the cup when a putt stayed out, as if accusing the hole of moving as his ball approached. And he spoke his mind on whatever subject he happened to be discussing. He was a paradox in strawberry curls, a bright man whose bluntness made him appear at times to be totally guileless. He also was totally entertaining and a very fine golfer -- 27 European Tour victories, three times a runner-up in majors (twice losing in playoffs) and a stellar Ryder Cup player.

Nothing about Monty's brooding, self-centered focus is unique in the contemporary world of sports. What is extremely rare, however, is Monty is not an athlete who hides behind a "no comment" or stays in the shower until all the reporters have left the locker room. Yet it was Monty's willingness to speak his mind, in an era when most athletes mind what they speak, that put a target on his back. For those who have led the assault on Monty, to be irked less by the athletes who say less is disingenuous.

It also is noteworthy that Monty was often right in his most controversial opinions. Before the 1997 Ryder Cup, he said Brad Faxon's divorce would distract him (it did) and that Tiger Woods might find the going rough because it was his first Ryder Cup (he did). Also in 1997, Monty was asked if Woods could blow a nine-stroke lead over Costantino Rocca in the final round of the Masters like Greg Norman squandered a six-shot margin over Nick Faldo a year earlier. "There's no chance humanly possible that Tiger is going to lose this tournament," Monty said. "No way. This is very different. Nick Faldo's not lying second. And Greg Norman's not Tiger Woods."

In a handful of words, Monty praised Woods and Faldo while harshly assessing Norman and Rocca. It was spontaneous and honest, and it is exactly what will be missed most about Monty if his career is truly coming to a conclusion.

The old boy has no chance this week at Troon. But Ben Crenshaw had no chance in the 1995 Masters. Sometimes fate just intervenes. Maybe magic will happen on Monty's old links. Some would say he deserves it.

Ron Sirak is the executive editor of Golf World magazine