Biography

Colin (Monty) Montgomerie

Although Scottish by birth and ethnicity, he was raised in Yorkshire, where his father James was a corporate manager. However, he was educated at Strathallan School in Perthshire. His father would later become the secretary of Royal Troon Golf Club, one of Scotland's most famous clubs. Montgomerie became one of the first British golfers to go to a United States college, attending Houston Baptist University. In later years, many top young British golfers (e.g., Luke Donald) would follow Monty's path to United States universities.

He won three important Scottish amateur tournaments — the 1983 Scottish Youths Championship, the 1985 Scottish Stroke Play Championship, and the 1987 Scottish Amateur Championship. He also played for Scotland twice in the Eisenhower Trophy (1984 and 1986) and for Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup twice (1985 and 1987).

Career outline

Montgomerie turned professional in 1988, and was named the Rookie of the Year on the European Tour that season. He quickly developed into one of Europe's top pros, making his Ryder Cup debut in 1991. He finished first on the European Tour Order of Merit every year from 1993 to 1999 and has thirty victories on the tour, including the 1998, 1999, and 2000 European PGA Tour Championships. He has finished second in four major championships, the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Opens, the 1995 PGA Championship and the 2005 Open Championship.

He first reached the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings in 1994 and was ranked number 2 at his peak. His form fell away in 2003 and 2004, partly due to marriage problems, and his ranking slumped to the eighties, but he came back strongly in 2005, winning a record eighth European Tour Order of Merit and returning to the top ten in the World Rankings. [1] Late in 2005 he became the first man to win 20 million Euros on the European Tour. In February 2006 he agreed to a clean break divorce settlement of £15 million, in return for his ex-wife giving up any claim on his future earnings. [2]

While Montgomerie holds the dubious distinction of being considered one of the best golfers never to have won a major championship, he is heralded as one of the greatest competitors in the history of the Ryder Cup. Montgomerie has played on seven Ryder Cup teams (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004) and has never been defeated in a singles match at the Cup. In 2004, he had the honour of sinking the putt that ensured Team Europe an outright victory in the Ryder Cup, minutes after Lee Westwood sank the putt that ensured Europe would retain the Cup.

Montgomerie captained the Great Britain & Ireland team in the first four stagings of the Seve Trophy, losing in 2000 but winning in 2002, 2003 and 2005.

At the end of 2004, Montgomerie was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours. He represents the Turnberry resort in Scotland, where there is a Colin Montgomerie Golf Academy.

European Tour wins

1989 Portuguese Open - TPC
1991 Scandinavian Masters
1993 Heineken Dutch Open, Volvo Masters Andalucia
1994 Peugeot Open de Espana, Murphy's English Open, Volvo German Open
1995 Volvo German Open, Trophée Lancôme
1996 Dubai Desert Classic, Murphy's Irish Open, Canon European Masters
1997 Compaq European Grand Prix, Murphy's Irish Open
1998 Volvo PGA Championship, One 2 One British Masters, Linde German Masters
1999 Benson and Hedges International Open, Volvo PGA Championship, Standard Life Loch Lomond, Volvo Scandinavian Masters, BMW International Open
2000 Novotel Perrier Open de France, Volvo PGA Championship
2001 Murphy's Irish Open, Volvo Scandinavian Masters
2002 Volvo Masters Andalucia (shared title with Bernhard Langer when darkness fell two holes into a play-off)
2004 Caltex Masters
2005 Dunhill Links Championship
2006 Hong Kong Open (2005 calendar year, 2006 European Tour season) 

Montgomerie also came first in the Volvo Bonus Pool every year from 1993 to 1998. The Volvo Bonus Pool was an extra tranche of prize money awarded at the end of each European Tour season from 1988 to 1998 to the regular members of the tour who had had the best performances over the season.

Other professional wins

1996 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa - unofficial event)
1997 Accenture World Championship of Golf, King Hassan II Trophy
1999 Cisco World Match Play Championship (United Kingdom - not an official event at that time.)
2000 Skins Game (United States)
2001 Ericsson Masters (Australia)
2002 TCL Classic (China)
2003 Macau Open (China)

Amateur wins

1983 Scottish Youths Championship
1985 Scottish Stroke Play Championship
1987 Scottish Amateur Championship

Team appearances

Amateur

Walker Cup: (representing Great Britain & Ireland) 1985, 1987
Eisenhower Trophy: (representing Scotland) 1984, 1986
St Andrews Trophy: 1986 (winners)

Professional

Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1991, 1993, 1995 (Winners), 1997 (Winners), 1999, 2002 (winners), 2004 (winners)
Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Scotland): 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 (winners), 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000
World Cup (representing Scotland): 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997 (individual winner), 1998, 1999
Four Tours World Championship: 1991 (winning team)
The Seve Trophy (playing captain of Great Britain & Ireland team): 2000, 2002 (winners), 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners)
UBS Cup (representing the rest of the world): 2003, 2004

Reference:

http://spotted.augusta.com/masters/display.html?gallery=4114
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Montgomerie