A Few Thoughts From Monty.....

[Forged4ever]

Looking back over the decades, there were three guys that I didn't like, no strike that, I couldn't stand them, and having had the opportunity to have met all three over time, while two of them confirmed my opinion of them as arrogant temperamental  entitled incredibly self-centered b*tches, I couldn't have been more mistaken about the third.

 

He turned out to be a great guy, nothing like the US press or fans portrayed him to be. He was bright, witty, funny as hell and a joy to spend time with, especially after a few pops, and he loves a good lager, hahaha🍺.  He ain't JD, though he puts em away waaaaaaay above his weight, lolol🥃🍺.
 

He makes some great points in the article and though Colin was never amongst the longest in his prime, he was above average though a few decades later, a few yards shorter and a world away from the kids, he must feel like a quality country club amateur who blasts a career drive in a Tour Pro Am, only to BARELY make the fairway by 2-3 yards, lolol. 
 

Colin touches on a lot of subjects, from his career and it sounds like he has a regret or two to the state of the game today along with today's Players in addition to the current talent level of the European Tour and their prospects in the next few Ryder Cups. I was talkin to a couple of guys up at the club about Colin and they were very surprised by my feelings for him, however, if I could assemble my "final foursome," to play my last round of golf with, Monty would be there with Pete & Sam. I'm leavin some serious names out of that group, though he's just that nice of a guy, can still make a golf ball dance and someone that is truly fun to spend 4 1/2-5 hours with. Get him a few pops on the 19th and he'll have ya LYourAO, lolol~

 

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/colin-montgomerie-european-ryder-cup/amp

 

So, what are your thoughts on either Colin or some of his views?

 

Thanks for reading👊

 

I hope that you all had a Happy Holiday and that you have a great season ahead🏌🏻‍♂️🏌🏽‍♀️
 

Stay Well My Friends🍻
RP

Edited January 19, 2022 by Forged4ever

[mizuno player]

I like him. Some players get a bad rap even though they say and do what many others do. For whatever reason some get labeled. 

 

Always liked his interviews. Very much like his commentary on broadcasts. 

 

At Wingedfoot if Phil didn't win I wanted Monty. I think having a few beers with him and Laura davies would be very fun. 

 

Oh. Efff winter bring back the heat!!! 

[bladehunter]

Great read Richard !   I’ve grown to love Monty as well.   It’s hard to imagine people being mean to that guy.  
 

i find his take on the order of merit to be spot on.  I kept looking at that myself and going “ how the blank does Colin M. Get that high on the board “?   
 

i also agree with him on todays game.  It’s an arms race pure and simple.  And to compete there is no real choice.  It’s sad to me.  I didn’t start the game until well into adulthood , so I feel like I missed the peak of the game from an artists perspective.  And am watching it hurl down the backside of the mountain towards the world long drive tour.  

[MikeW2]

I’ll never understand how so many people get worked up over people they’ve never met. He always fascinated me and I found his swing to be graceful but he really didn’t get the respect here that he did I Europe. Thank you for posting the link, his observations are likely to be pretty close reality.

[dosman]

Thanks for the post on your background with Monty here. Very refreshing to have first-hand accounts. Great article with terrific quotes all around! Loved this part of one:

 

" ... I’ve been to some interesting places. I’ve seen the re-enactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. ..."

[pgatw]

Always liked Monty. Always seemed very authentic. His commentary runs rings around a lot of the stuff we get fed in North America.

[cardoustie]

Love him commentating 

 

great flowing swing 

[GolfTurkey]

I was always rooting against Monty but that was mostly because he seemed to contend in the same majors as Ernie Els did and I was a big Ernie fan.

 

I get the one-dimensionality of the distance argument in that the minimum club head speed required to compete has increased a lot. However, in spite of launch monitors, 3D systems, force plates etc., there is still a lot of variance in how the guys swing a club.

 

Look at the current top 10 in the rankings: Rahm, Morikawa, DJ, Cantlay, JT, Xander, Hovland, Rory, Bryson and Hideki. If they were playing in an event together, I could identify any of their swings from two fairways over. Cantlay is the most vanilla and I would identify him via process of elimination but the rest all have their very unique signatures.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by GolfTurkey

[bscinstnct]

Rich-

 

aaaaaarrrrrd! My man! 
 

Very nice share. Yes, I read that Monty has really gotten into American culture (no, that’s not an oxymoron! 🤣) and appreciates the far ranging, colorful, panorama, of the good old USA.

 

Things really aren’t that different around the globe. In any country, you got city folk, country folk, nuances, traditions, dialects, that can change in half a days drive from one region to the next.

 

Montys experience spans generations, and he has the unique perspective on pro golf of a Scot whos long career spanned the Atlantic as an elite player during a time of great evolution in the game. 
 

I believe He had the misfortune of getting off to a rocky start with US fans and he certainly did not deserve to be tormented as he was. 

Good to see he is enjoying himself and has the respect he deserves. 

 

[Hawkeye77]

When he was brought in on occasion a few years back at GC to weigh in at majors or Ryder Cup his comments were usually right on, intelligent and to the point. I really enjoyed him. Loved the little back story at Royal Troon about his dad in ‘16. 
 

I remember a story Richard recounted about a tavern incident that was pretty good involving Monty. 
 

I’d rather play a round with him than Couples or Norman!  Duck people! 😀 But Richard over those chops. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Hawkeye77

[GolfTurkey]

Ugh, Norman, makes me embarrassed to be Aussie

[Forged4ever]

50 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

I remember a story Richard recounted about a tavern incident that was pretty good involving Monty. 

This was his round the next day😂😂

 

That poor b*stard didn't know which end of his clubs were up and was almost in tears standin on 10 tee....

 

THEN the wheels really came off😂😂

 

We laughed about it a few years later and we did have a great time that evening, though damn, did he pay the piper😂😂

 

Stay Well Brotha👊
RP

[grm24]

3 hours ago, bladehunter said:

i find his take on the order of merit to be spot on.  I kept looking at that myself and going “ how the blank does Colin M. Get that high on the board “?   

Super simple explanation/concept. Look at the money that Morikawa earned in events that counted for the ET Order of Merit in 2021 (WGC's, The 4 Majors) versus what the purse sizes were for standard ET events. He won 1.7 million Euros for the Open Championship. Many regular week in week out ET events paid less than 200-300,000 Euros. He won over 3.2  million Euros just for winning a WGC event and a major. WGC and The Majors count on each money list (PGA, ET). Sam with Horschel. Won a WGC event and then won the highest paying ET event (PGA Championship @ Wentworth).

 

https://www.europeantour.com/players/collin-morikawa-43410/results?tour=dpworld-tour

 

https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/schedule/2021/

[Hankshank]

What he says in the article is more or less what he has been saying in interviews in Bunkered and other places over the years. His views on the tours and RC was always sound.

 

But that does not take away his behavior in tournaments when in his prime. Saw him numerous times televised and actually saw him on-site in that 1991 Scandinavian Masters he mentioned in the article, as well as a few other times. And I did not like his diva appearance. Like, McEnroe did have good things to say about tennis too. His lack of respect most certainly was due to his behavior towards crowds, and journalists have been mentioning things along the same line, being in contact with Montgomerie.
 

luckily, social media has made the kind of behavior golfers had to crowds those days very rare.  

Edited January 19, 2022 by Hankshank

[MattyO1984]

I’m Scottish, so for me, Monty has and always will be a legend. When I was first getting into Golf he was already into his prime and what a prime it was. Sure the European Tour back then still lagged behind the PGA Tour but in the 90’s it was still a case that most top European players played the majority of their golf outside the US and not only did he beat those guys week in, week out, he did it for years on end. The consistency that he displayed was remarkable. He was better than the rest of them over here, he knew it, they knew it, it was just the way that it was. That said, he was his own worst enemy. His British sensibilities and sense of decorum did not sit well with the fans in the US and whilst I won’t blame those for his lack of wins Stateside, it certainly didn’t help the situation.

 

Yesterday the European Tour (still not sure I can get with DP World Tour) posted a video on social media with him “bombing” driver. The ball speeds he was getting was 149mph max. Sure he is now closer to 60 than 50 so no one could expect much but it was shocking to see such low numbers show up on the Toptracer. 

 

Thanks for posting the article @Forged4ever Monty has been in some magazines this side and saying similar things. I think it would be hard for anyone to say that he was wrong in what he says. In saying that, I am still trying to hit it further and want to get longer and wouldn’t mind if it were easier to achieve that 😂

[ChillyDipper]

Where is @Christosterone with the Reverse-C love?  I got into golf in 96 or so, and used to love my mornings beginning with a little Renton Laidlaw, a dewy Wentworth West, and Colin Montgomerie in his Pringles sweater.  Fall golf at its finest.

[bladehunter]

6 hours ago, grm24 said:

Super simple explanation/concept. Look at the money that Morikawa earned in events that counted for the ET Order of Merit in 2021 (WGC's, The 4 Majors) versus what the purse sizes were for standard ET events. He won 1.7 million Euros for the Open Championship. Many regular week in week out ET events paid less than 200-300,000 Euros. He won over 3.2  million Euros just for winning a WGC event and a major. WGC and The Majors count on each money list (PGA, ET). Sam with Horschel. Won a WGC event and then won the highest paying ET event (PGA Championship @ Wentworth).

 

https://www.europeantour.com/players/collin-morikawa-43410/results?tour=dpworld-tour

 

https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/schedule/2021/

Oh I get it mathematically I just don’t get why they weighted the open so heavily since it’s littered with non euro tour players and allowed a virtual outsider to Win the order of merit . Why would a wgc event factor in at all ?  Those are my opinions.  And I realize they’d probably be not popular to some.  
 

does the fedex cup consider the us masters or the us open so heavily ? ( real question ). 

[Hawkeye77]

38 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Oh I get it mathematically I just don’t get why they weighted the open so heavily since it’s littered with non euro tour players and allowed a virtual outsider to Win the order of merit . Why would a wgc event factor in at all ?  Those are my opinions.  And I realize they’d probably be not popular to some.  
 

does the fedex cup consider the us masters or the us open so heavily ? ( real question ). 

Really devalues the European Tour season and eventual champion IMO. But whatever DP (forgot that, lol) needs to survive, I guess. The year Patrick Reed was way up the Race to Dubai standings and the, lol, lifetime membership can’t have sat well with the rank and file. 

[milesgiles]

dont know which year but it was May, B and H at the Oxfordshire. He hadnt touched a club in two months and was known to not practise. He announced he'd like to win two of the next three events.. and did.

[bladehunter]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Really devalues the European Tour season and eventual champion IMO. But whatever DP (forgot that, lol) needs to survive, I guess. The year Patrick Reed was way up the Race to Dubai standings and the, lol, lifetime membership can’t have sat well with the rank and file. 

Yep.  Just seem like instead of trying to save the euro tour. They’ve just liquidated it’s assets and sold them off. I don’t know. Maybe there was no choice.  But I doubt I ever learn to call it DP.  

[golfortennis]

10 hours ago, grm24 said:

Super simple explanation/concept. Look at the money that Morikawa earned in events that counted for the ET Order of Merit in 2021 (WGC's, The 4 Majors) versus what the purse sizes were for standard ET events. He won 1.7 million Euros for the Open Championship. Many regular week in week out ET events paid less than 200-300,000 Euros. He won over 3.2  million Euros just for winning a WGC event and a major. WGC and The Majors count on each money list (PGA, ET). Sam with Horschel. Won a WGC event and then won the highest paying ET event (PGA Championship @ Wentworth).

 

https://www.europeantour.com/players/collin-morikawa-43410/results?tour=dpworld-tour

 

https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/schedule/2021/

 

But they didn't have a lot of that stuff in Montgomerie's day.  WGC's didn't show up till 1998.  Montgomerie made his bones on the ET events.  

 

Today it is as you describe, but not back then.  

 

[Christosterone]

4 hours ago, ChillyDipper said:

Where is @Christosterone with the Reverse-C love?  I got into golf in 96 or so, and used to love my mornings beginning with a little Renton Laidlaw, a dewy Wentworth West, and Colin Montgomerie in his Pringles sweater.  Fall golf at its finest.

Mostly I lurk 

 

 

[tbowles411]

I didn't think too much of him for a long time, until I met him.  He's hilarious and as solid as a guy with a lot of really good opinions.

 

As he's aged, he's softened up and he's earned almost the same respect here as he has in Europe and it's good to see.

[hammersia]

10 hours ago, Hankshank said:

What he says in the article is more or less what he has been saying in interviews in Bunkered and other places over the years. His views on the tours and RC was always sound.

 

But that does not take away his behavior in tournaments when in his prime. Saw him numerous times televised and actually saw him on-site in that 1991 Scandinavian Masters he mentioned in the article, as well as a few other times. And I did not like his diva appearance. Like, McEnroe did have good things to say about tennis too. His lack of respect most certainly was due to his behavior towards crowds, and journalists have been mentioning things along the same line, being in contact with Montgomerie.
 

luckily, social media has made the kind of behavior golfers had to crowds those days very rare.  

 

Very much this ^^^

 

Saw him do a clinic ten years ago and he was terrific, not particularly approachable but extremely knowledgeable, gregarious with some good lines. Very intelligent commentator on the game.

 

But jeez I probably saw him a dozen times in European tournaments and he was always, without fail, moody and rude to at least a handful of spectators / marshals / volunteers etc. 

 

Our equivalent of Steve "the Volcano" Pate, always ready to explode. And it's not like he was super young in his prime. Just utterly tiresome behavior. 

[mat562]

A quick one.

 

I agree with everything Monty says. And I say that as a person who's often been a critic in the past. He's often been puerile and mardy on the course, particularly when things weren't going his way, but he's an intelligent and articulate man and I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment of the modern game. The way technology has pushed things, we likely wouldn't see players of the like of Montgomerie hmself, Pavin, McNulty and Olazabal nowadays, along with many more. They'd be unhead of, because they simply wouldn't have had the length to compete.

 

Also, with due deference to the sponsor and their financial input, can we just agree that the default condition is to refer to the 'other tour' as the European Tour? However many shipping containers they shift, and however many tournaments aren't held in Europe, I'm sorry, but I'm not having it.

Edited January 21, 2022 by mat562

[ChrisL52188]

Monty is a 100 percent correct. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by ChrisL52188

[Soloman1]

I’ve had a couple of conversations with him at the PGA Show and found him cordial, polite, funny and not too full of himself like some guys who had a couple of top 10’s.

[bscinstnct]

33 minutes ago, mat562 said:

A quick one.

 

I agree with everything Monty says. And I say that as a person who's often been a critic in the past. He's often been puerile and mardy on the course, particularly when things weren't going his way, but he's an intelligent and articulate man and I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment of the modern game. The way technology has pushed things, we likely wouldn't see players of the like of Mongomerie, Pavin, McNulty and Olazabal nowadays, along with many more. They'd be unhead of, because they simply wouldn't have had the length to compete.

 

Also, with due deference to the sponsor and their financial input, can we just agree that the default condition is to refer to the 'other tour' as the European Tour? However many shipping containers you shift, and however many tournaments aren't held in Europe, I'm sorry, but I'm not having it.

 

Puerile & Mardy 

 

Is like solicitors?

 

🤣

 

; )

[smashdn]

16 hours ago, Forged4ever said:

So, what are your thoughts on some of Colin's views?

 

Regarding overall distance I tend to agree with him in the sense that it has sort of excluded ways you can win.  You can no longer be an average or below average driver of the ball and be an accurate iron player and good putter and win.  You can't be average or below average driving and have a great short game and excellent shot-making and win.  You must be first and foremost long off the tee, and then excel at another aspect or two of the game to win consistently.  

 

Because of the above it has made the game one dimensional to a great extent.  Once you are driving it 310-330 in that range you are going to have a short iron or wedge in your hand more often than not.  Why waste time grooving mid-iron accuracy and shot making when you are likely only going to be using it on par 3's.  If you follow the data shooting par on them will have you at or beating the field most times.

 

You see some guys still making shots though.  Justin Thomas comes to mind.  He hits it both directions and high and low as it is required.  But he also has the distance to compete.

 

Money is killing the Euro Tour.  And what money isn't killing, covid is.  That's all I care to say on that.

 

I have no opinion on the Ryder Cup issues he brings up save for better players will beat inferior players all else being equal.  I'll let Europe figure out why their guys aren't better than the current crop of Americans.

[mat562]

25 minutes ago, bscinstnct said:

 

Puerile & Mardy 

 

Is like solicitors?

 

🤣

 

; )

 

No, that's Chancers and Grabbing you're thinking of.