WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 8, 2000

Colin Montgomerie

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, in a way. It's quite simple: I have to win. And I wanted to come in last week; it didn't happen. I had a bad round on Saturday, and pulled it back on Sunday. But too little, too late, unfortunately. This time, I have to play four very, very good rounds. I know I've done it before here, having to win in '93 - as you're probably aware, my first Valderrama victory, I had to win - I was in fifth place coming in behind Seve and Faldo and Langer and Woosnam, who were all ahead of me, and managed to win. Results from them weren't to my favor in '93, and I won it. I'm going with that now. I'm a much better player now than I was then. It was a European Tour event, but at the same time, and this is a world event, the field's stronger, obviously, this time around. But I'm a better player as well. I'm confident of doing well. That's all I can say. I mean, it depends. All I can control is my own ball and no one else's. If Darren or Lee or whoever finishes second or third, even if I win, hopefully, I'll be the first person to congratulate them. As I said, it's been a very long time. In sport, to be on top of the tree for this length of time is unusual. I'm very proud of the record that I've held, so proud of it that I don't want to lose it.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I had a lot of success here. I enjoy being here and having an awful lot of success here. I'll never forget '95, after '93 with Sam Torrance what I had to do that back nine and achieved it. Then again of course in '97 during the Ryder Cup, when I had to come down the last hole. I'll never forget that either. There's a number of times I came down that last hole at Valderrama that it's worked out. Hopefully the year 2000 will be no different.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: There's so many different shots to be hit. Every tee you stand on, there's a certain way, depending on the player you are or the situation you're in, to playing the hole. Every hole has a best way of playing it, whether you're 5-over or 5-under. Actually, this course, with the wind directions and stuff, it does change. So it's a very interesting course to play. Depending on the wind direction, there are usually on a golf course, as I was saying, there are sort of ways of playing a hole. Here, there isn't, because the wind direction suggests you can do one or another. And the 2nd hole, for instance, today, I was practicing this morning. You go -- you can hit a driver down the left, 2-iron up the right, 3-wood in the middle. Because now they push the tee back 25 yards on the 2nd, that tree really comes into play now. There's a different way of playing the hole than there was normally. So it doesn't mean it's a par 4. It's a driver, which I don't like anyway. I like playing chess around the course, and I enjoy the challenge of it. Every hole has its own potential disasters and own challenges.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, it's difficult. It's a difficult situation for everybody, and everybody understands the American situation. I mean, I was quoted in a paper today saying that I -- something, I was backing Tiger for coming over here and slamming the rest for not. Well, I didn't do that. All I did was I praised Tiger for coming. That doesn't mean I'm slamming the rest of them. All I was doing was praising one guy. So let's try and get that straight, for one. Everyone has -- this is a very individual game we play. We only are together once every couple of years really. And for an individual game, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Whether they want to travel or not is entirely up to themselves. I can't -- very difficult for me to answer questions what can I do or what could be done to change these tournaments to make everybody enter them. I mean, it's a very difficult situation, you know? They're not majors. We have to accept that, that people do turn up for majors. Nowadays, with the amount of money that's around in the world game, that sometimes people don't travel. I can't speak for them, I'm afraid. I can only speak for myself.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Sure. Well, I'll be there. That's all I can say, speaking for myself, you know? I'm looking forward. That's the Bellerive tournament, isn't it?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I enjoyed playing there when the PGA was there, when Nick Price won in '93, I believe, was it? That's a great course. I enjoy playing. I'll be there. That's all I can say about that. You'll probably find when it is over in the States that most Americans will be playing there. It's just a long way to travel at this time of year. I can understand that. It's up to them. I can't speak for them.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No, I don't feel that's a problem. We're not travelling to the Ryder Cup; we're just going home for it. I mean, me, personally, if I happen to qualify for the team, I'll just drive up the road from my home Monday or Tuesday morning. I mean, there's no problem about that, having played in America two weeks before. None at all.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I was playing against Darren Clarke, actually, and I knew what I had to do. I knew the situation. I had to win the tournament. It was the first time anyone ever got to 10-under on this golf course. It was very wet, placing was in order, and it was amazing. Darren was 2-behind playing the last, and he birdied the hole. And I had two putts to win from the back edge. I lagged it down there, and it just stopped, just stopped short of the hole. I could handle it from about 2 inches. That was amazing for me, because I had beaten people that I had grown up idolizing, if you like. The four people that were ahead of me in the Order of Merit, as I mentioned earlier on, were people that I watched play majors and win majors and had a sort of good rapport with. And, also, I feel that you got admiration for them all. And then to beat them, was, "Wow!" You know? It was most important for me in '94 to continue that. That wasn't, for me, that was -- you know me well enough now, everybody here knows the ambition and the drive that I have. That was just a start. I really sat down to winning it again in '94. Once that was achieved, then it became easier. But '94 was actually vital for me to stay in that position. I could not go down in that stage of my career. '93 was a bonus; '94 was vital to keep going.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: The changes are good, they always have been here. The course is longer than it was, a lot longer, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 7th, and the 4th. They've all been increased in length. But it still has its own unique playability, this golf course. I think the changes are good. I think you'll find most of the players enjoy playing here. The rough is less severe than it has been, but you don't want to go in it because you can't control the second shot. It's a very, very difficult golf course. The greens are very firm, very fast. It's very difficult, especially in wind like this. I mean, if you get round here in level par like a day like this, you've done very well. Although you might have played it yourself, I don't think it's an amateur's golf course. I don't think people enjoy it that much, as amateur golfers. But we enjoy the challenge of it. That's what I enjoy in golf.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, I think everybody who came over last year was intrigued to find out what Valderrama was all about. We had a good field, a very, very strong field last year, obviously. This year's not so. I think it's been another long year. The money in America has increased in such a degree that sometimes people don't wish to travel. I can understand their view.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Disappointment on my part? Not at all. It makes it easier to win. Not at all. I'd like actually another 54 guys to withdraw, and I'll be left on my own. (Laughter.) That would be fine by me. But not disappointing to me. It's still a world-class field, because we have the world's best player here, and that's very important. And all credit to him for doing what he's doing in this next month, because he's playing four tournaments on four different continents. All credit to him for doing that.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, it's worked in reverse in a way. But at the same time, Volvo Masters has doubled its prize money from last year as well, so the difference isn't so great. We are catching up with our own prize money, and our prize money is good from the Volvo to double the prize money from 1 million pounds to 2 million pounds, that's $3 million if you like. That's the biggest prize we've played for, so the gap isn't as big as it used to be, so that difference isn't as great.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: When I was about four, I wanted to hole a putt or something, when I was four years old. You think, "Okay, there's something." Family noticed there was something there. You know? You've always got that, I think. You don't find it. You either have it or you don't. I was fortunate to be born with a talent and ability, and also an ambition to succeed. Put them together, well, there's a template there for success.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I made the decision when we discussed that before.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: You'll know by then what I'm doing.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, I have a family holiday around that time of year, and I would leave that family holiday to go down to Melbourne, or not. So I'm going to make the decision later on in the year.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I can't speak for an event that's a couple of months away, to be honest. We'll see the field when it is announced down at Melbourne. But I think all of us here agree, and all officials agree, that the timing is not perfect for that event, and it's a shame the way it's worked. But to fit in with the West Coast schedule of the US Tour, it had to come at that time. But it's unfortunate, but the calendar year is not long enough.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yes, I think the word "Order of Merit" didn't mean much to me 20 years ago when people won it. It was being shared between the Seve's and Faldo's and Norman's or whatever, won it. And you have a type of people sharing it around. Then this time that I've been on top has brought it to a fore, I believe. And now it's come to a stage where it might change. Now people are talking about it a lot more than they would normally. I think the level of competition in Europe now is as strong as it's been, as strong as I've known, in my time at the top. I used to be competing with the likes of Faldo, Langer. Langer was always there in my era. In '93, '94, '95, he was always around the first. Woosnam as well. And they aren't playing the schedules that they were then. Now it's been taken over by the likes of newcomers like Thomas Bjorn, Clarke, Westwood, Michael Campbell, for instance. We've got good players coming through: Harrington, Phillip Price. These guys that are all, I would say, world-class players. And the competition is as good as it has been for a long time. It all goes well for the Ryder Cup situation, because these players have been the backbone now of our Ryder Cup. I mean, we've got a good, new backbone that possibly we didn't have in '97, '99; and we did awfully well here in '97. '99 we were a very, very young team, and we did awfully well. But 2001, we should be more mature with the same players having improved.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: To answer your second question first, I think I'll go to America a week or two before a major to give myself an opportunity of winning one, because this, the European Order of Merit situation has been done. I got a t-shirt for that one, so I'm all right there. So I'll be playing whatever tournaments before the US Open and possibly US PGA that I haven't done in the past. I'll add a couple of tournaments, nothing drastic, just giving myself a chance to climatize, something I haven't done in the past. To answer your first question, I'm on the Tournament Committee of the European Tour, and I don't feel it's my position to be signing bits of paper to audit a Tour that I am responsible for, for some of the rules of. Apparently, the Tour opened up the situation every year to questions to the AGM or whatever the case may be. It's coming to that time anyway, so I don't see what the problem is.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Tough one there. How do I rank myself as a player? Pretty good. (Laughter.)

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Oh, Tiger Woods would sit here and say, "Could be better." So, therefore, we all feel that. Could be a lot better in a number of areas, and I'm always learning. I hope we all are. No one ever gets to the stage in any business where we feel we've reached that pinnacle and there's nowhere to go. Hopefully we can always improve, in your jobs and mine. But at the same time, pretty good, pretty good. If I stop playing now, if I don't hit another golf ball in my life, I'll have had a good time of it, and I'll think back and look at the trophy cabinet in my house and feel very proud of what I've achieved.