Colin Montgomerie turns 60 later this year.
“Later this year? God, it’s next month. Stop it!” he said with a chuckle.
Indeed, June 23 is right around the corner but having just come off a third-place tie at the PGA Tour Champions Insperity Invitational in Houston when we talked, Montgomerie isn’t ready to be put out to pasture just yet.
Remarkably, this already is the 10th year on the senior circuit for Monty, who joined the World Golf Hall of Fame a decade ago too, and after years of being Europe’s most devoted star to the home circuit has developed quite the crush on life in America.
Monty is many things —a Ryder Cup hero, Scotland’s finest player since Sandy Lyle, a European Tour stalwart who won eight Order of Merit titles but also never won a major, never won on the PGA Tour, and could throw a tantrum with the best of them.
But this conversation happened fortunately enough on a Wednesday and Montgomerie always was known as “Wonderful on Wednesday” by the media before the birdie and bogey tally swayed his mood one way or the other. In this Q&A with the winner of 31 DP World Tour events, the most of any British player, Monty discusses why he’s in favor of rolling back the golf ball, why Ryder Cup heroes who have departed for LIV Golf shouldn’t be allowed to be captain in the future and you’ll chuckle when you hear which Hall of Fame football coach he gets confused for all the time. The resemblance is striking.
Golfweek: Let’s start with a simple question. Does the golf ball go too far?
Colin Montgomerie: Well, 99.99 percent of the population would say no. But that .01 percent, who played the game professionally? Some say yes, some say no. I’m one of the ones that that would go against the bifurcation and say, it’s about time that actually we use the golf ball that went a particular distance again, 85 percent say, of the distance that it goes now and you know, we are the only sport really that brings our own equipment to the table.
You know, baseball, football, soccer, tennis, snooker, billiards, whatever it might be, is given a ball to play with and that’s that. We are one of the only sport that actually brings our own equipment with us. So I think we should be given a golf ball at the start of the week and off you go. You might be given a dozen of them just in case you lose one. But that’s the Tour golf ball. The longer hitters are still going to be longer. But it brings back these traditional courses that sometimes can’t be used anymore. The Merion’s of this world are getting too short, Pebble Beach is probably a little bit short right now as well, to be honest, these great courses that have to be extended, the costing of the money, you know, they have to lay new turf to put new tees in, to water it, to maintain it, labor costs to run it and all that sort of stuff. We’ve got to say hang on a minute, enough’s enough, you know, and let’s play a golf ball that goes 85 percent the distance that it does right now.
GWK: Along those lines, if the Pro V1 didn't come along, how many majors do you think you would have won?
CM: Yeah, with the old traditional balata balls that used to move around in the wind, and I used to be able to control it. You asked Lee Trevino the same question and he can maneuver a golf ball. He was fantastic, he was the best of the lot. And I wasn’t bad at it as well. Yeah, you know, it helped. The three things that’s helped the average golfer out was the Pro V1. Right, that was No. 1. Number two was the L wedge, the Ping L-wedge allowed everybody to suddenly do what Seve could do. And the other one was, of course, the metal driver. And suddenly, Greg Norman, who was the best driver of a golf ball in the world, everybody could do what he was doing. Those were the three things that changed the world of golf.
GWK: Does it kill you that you never won a major?
CM: Not really, I have no regrets. You know, I mean, if I was to say, when I started out this thing that I’d end up being in the Hall of Fame, you know, well that says it’s been a fantastic career. I just didn’t get fortunate at the very right time. Now that’s fortune on me doing something particularly good. Or fortunate that others against me did something good and not particularly bad, you know? So, it works both ways. You know, of the trophies that one’s lifted having won an event, there’s not one that you would lift and say, I was unlucky. You need a bit of fortune to win in any event and more so in a major championship. But no, I mean, there’s no regrets. None at all.
GWK: You're turning 60 later this year. How much longer do you plan to play? And how do you plan to spend the next stage of your life?
CM: This is my 10th year on the Champions Tour. Although enjoying it thoroughly, you know, it’s going to end sometime. I think when the very best that I can do is finish 20th I think it’s time to buy a couple of Labradors and start walking them. But right now, a tie third (at the Insperity Invitational in late April) is better than 20th so on we go, you know, and I’m enjoying it that much.
GWK: Why didn't you win in the U.S.?
CM: Good question. You know, I won that World Match Play that no one really sort of gave me any credit for – they said, ‘Oh, no, that wasn’t a tour win.’ Well, I beat Ernie Els in the semifinal and Davis Love in the final. I count it as a win, believe me!
I didn’t give myself enough time to be here consistently. I used to play in Europe, rush over for a major, rush back again to Europe. And it wasn’t giving me enough time. I should have really joined the PGA Tour when I was 30. I didn’t. I put my family first. My children in London were happy that we’re going to school. They were being born at that time – ages 30 through 36. I kept going back to Europe. I didn’t give myself the run that I needed to come and win here.
GWK: What do your three kids do these days?
CM: Well, one is a mother, Olivia is now 30 and she’s a mother. So I’ve got two grandchildren. And my middle daughter, Venetia, she works for Formula 1 in London on the partnerships of Formula 1. And my son, Cameron, is 25. He’s still figuring out what he wants to do with himself. He’s an arborist right now. So he’s a tree surgeon, having finished university and he’s just he’s just figuring out what he wants to do. So he’s probably as we speak, up a tree right now swinging around, cutting down someone’s tree for them, which is great.
GWK: You had incredible success on the European Tour, winning eight Order of Merit titles. Is there one that means the most to you? And if so, why?
CM: Yeah, the one that means the most to me is the last one. I had seven in a row from 1993 to ‘99. And then there was one more in 2005, and that meant the most to me because I felt and most other people felt well, he has had his day, but to comeback at 42 years old and win that money list again in 1995, was a good effort. That was the key one that really cemented it, and I’m very proud of that one.
GWK: As someone who was so loyal to the European Tour, how do you see the strategic alliance with the PGA Tour and how has it benefited the European Tour?
CM: It has benefited the European Tour tremendously. To think that anyone in the top 10 of the money list at the end of the year is going to get a PGA Tour card, I mean, my goodness, is that a bonus? It’s helped in the Scottish Open and it’s helped in a number of other events to make them sort of world events. They were Rolex Series events at the time, but now they are world events and it’s really helped the European Tour grow a lot stronger, which we needed. Economically, we can’t compete with the American tour. We need the strength of the PGA Tour to help us out and they have indeed.
GWK: If the Liv Tour, or something like it, had approached you in your prime, how much would it have taken for you to have signed on?
CM: That’s a good question, isn’t it? You know, there’s talk on our Champions tour, which, you know, some of them are saying I wish LIV had a Champions tour four-ball, name a team or name a couple of teams of seniors, I think a number of them would have jumped ship, I’m sure with the money on offer. But myself, I’m very happy with what I’m doing right now. That’s a hypothetical question. So you can’t really answer it. But at the same time, a few of them I’m sure would have said yes.
GWK: Do you think Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter should be allowed to be Ryder Cup captains?
CM: Well right now, it’s not feasible legally for them. They’ve got to resign the memberships now or pay a heavy fine. So you got to be a member of the tour to be a Ryder Cup captain. They knew the consequences of joining in the first place, they knew that this might take place depending on what went on in the courts. And it favored the European Tour so it’s gone against them that way.
They knew the consequences – money against legacy, in many ways and they chose the former and hey, good luck to them but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t expect to do that and then lobby Ryder Cup captain this week and I’ll go to LIV the next week. It doesn’t work that way. You know you pay your penalties. It is a shame we’ve lost a few good captains in Henrik, Westwood, Graeme McDowell, probably, you know, but at the same time, there’s more opportunity for others to take their place.
GWK: I got another hypothetical for you: If Tiger didn't change coaches or get injured, how many majors do you think he was going to win?
CM: Would he have got to Nicklaus’s 18? I think he would have. I think it would have been only right if they tied like the way Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin are tied for career victories on the Champions tour. And then Jack and Tiger would both go down as the best in history.
GWK: You mentioned Bernhard Langer. If you took better care of your body the way he did, would it have made a difference for you?
CM: No, I don’t think so. I think he’s unique in many ways, Langer. He hasn’t had a carbohydrate for 30 years. He’s one of the only people that could wear his first Ryder Cup jacket and it would still fit him now, I can assure you, but at the same time, a unique individual, a professionalism beyond and in a Germanic way. You do have to respect him for it. He’s done extremely well. He’s made the most of his career and the talent that he has been given. Definitely.
GWK: You were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. What made that occasion so special for you?
CM: Ernie Els said it’s the ultimate honor, and he’s won four majors. He said it’s the ultimate accolade in golf, and I agree with him, and everyone else does, too. I was inducted with Freddie Couples and he broke down emotionally because of it, too. It is a big, big deal. And you don’t appreciate it until the Induction Ceremony takes place. It’s the ultimate in our game and I’m very proud.
GWK: What do you think of this year's British Open venue, Liverpool?
CM: Royal Liverpool was wet the last time in 2014 when Rory won. I think it favored him. It depends on what type of spring we have at home. If it’s a dry spring, it’ll be fast and running and it will bring in a number of others to perform there the way that Tiger did in 2006 when he won it there. I think that it’s a very good golf course. It’s not one of the heralded stages or venues but it’s a very good golf course, there’s not a bad hole. They’re all potential double bogeys as we all know.
I’ll be there this particular year as an ambassador for Loch Lomond whiskey group, promoting the brand, and the single malt scotch whiskey that we developed for the Open and it carries my name and is the official spirit of the Open.
GWK: I asked you earlier why you didn't win in the U.S. Why has the U.S. not won in Europe in the Ryder Cup for 30 years?
CM: It’s amazing, isn’t it? I can’t really put a finger on it. We’ve just holed more putts, I suppose at the right time. And that’s what it’s going to be this time whoever is going to hole them wins. World ranking seems to go out the window. You know, the last four Ryder Cups have been won by the home team. Although we’re underdogs, it will still come down to the guy that holes the last putt on the last day. It’s going to be close, and I think Rome will be a fantastic venue.
GWK: Let’s end on a whimsical note. What celebrity do people mistake you for?
CM: There’s a guy here, he was a coach of an American team, Giants football coach. (After much Charades-like guessing) Yes, it’s Bill Parcells. People sometimes confuse me for him, which I think I’ll take as a compliment. I apologize for not knowing the Giants coach. I apologize for that.
